I- 

■    \ 


X>'^X 


OP  THK 

University  of  California. 

("rlF^X    OK 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
/Accessions  No .  SJ^l^  •      Cla&s  No. 


M 


N 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/evidenceoftruthoOOkeitrich 


EVIDENCE 

OF  THE 

TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

DERIVED    FROM    THE    LITERAL    FULFILMENT    OP 

PROPHECY; 

PABTIOULARLY  AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS, 

AND    BT    THE 

■    *.   '  n 

DISCOVERIES    OF     RECENT    TRAVELLERS. 


ALEXANDER  KEITH,  D.D. 

f| 

MINISTER    OP    ST.    C  Y  RUS/  K  I  NC  AB  D  I  N  E  S  H  IBB, 

AUTHOR   OF  THE  SiaNS   OF  THE   TIMES,   AND   DEMONSTRATION   OP  THB 

TRUTH   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN   RELIGION. 


Opinionum  commenta  dies  delet,  Natturn  Judicia  conflrmat. 

Cieero. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD    OF  PUBLICATION. 


[tJjriVBESITT] 


(3T//0I 


fjifj^i 


PEEFACE. 


The  following  pages  are  presented  to  the  public,  in  the 
hope  that  they  may  not  be  altogether  unproductive  of 
good.  The  idea  of  the  propriety  of  such  a  publication 
was  first  suggested  to  the  writer  in  consequence  of  a 
conversation  with  a  person  who  disbelieved  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  but  whose  mind  seemed  to  be  considerably 
affected,  even  by  a  slight  alius  on  to  the  argument  from 
Prophecy.  Having  endeavoured  in  vain  to  obtain,  for 
his  perusal,  any  concise  treati'  e  on  the  Prophecies,  con- 
sidered exclusively  as  a  matter  of  evidence — and  having 
failed  in  soliciting  others  to  undertake  the  work,  who 
were  far  better  qualified  for  the  execution  of  it — the 
writer  was  induced  to  make  the  attempt,  and  to  en- 
deavour to  bring  the  object  into  view. 

In  the  following  Essay  the  argument  is  brought  within 
narrow  limits.  Those  prophecies  are  not  included  which 
were  fulfilled  previously  to  the  era  of  the  last  of  the  pro- 
phets, or  of  which  the  meaning  is  obscure,  or  the  appli- 
cation doubtful.  And  the  only  question  to  be  resolved 
is — Whether  there  be  any  clear  predictions,  literally  ac- 
complished, which,  from  their  nature  and  their  number, 
demonstrate  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  dictates  of  in- 
spiration, or  that  the  Spirit  of  Prophecy  is  the  testimony 
of  Jesus. 

The  researches  of  travellers  in  Palestine  have  been 
so  abundant,  and  the  prophecies  thereby  verified  are  so 
numerous  and  distinct,  that  no  labour  is  requisite  for 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

elucidating  their  truth,  but  to  examine  and  compare  the 
predictions  and  the  events ;  and  the  literal  prophecies 
need  no  other  interpretation  than  the  literal  facts. 

Though  well  aware  that  any  one  who  seeks  to  illus- 
trate the  external  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity- 
may  be  said  to  stand  only  at  the  outer  porch  of  the  temple 
of  Christian  faith,  yet  the  writer  of  these  pages  humbly 
hopes  that  he  may  be  permitted  to  point  to  a  way,  with- 
out a  stumbling-block,  by  which  some  who  may  be  merely 
the  proselytes  of  the  gate,  or  others  who  would  pass 
altogether  by,  may  be  enabled  to  enter  into  that  edifice 
of  divine  architecture,  fitly  framed  together,  which  is 
filled  with  all  the  riches  of  mercy,  with  all  the  beauties 
of  holiness,  and  with  all  the  light  of  truth. 

The  author  having  recently  visited*  some  of  the  scenes 
of  scriptural  prophecy,  the  present  edition  is  considera- 
bly enlarged.  Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  who  travelled  at 
the  same  time  in  the  East,  and  traversed  regions  which  the 
writer  did  not  visit,  having  kindly  given  the  use  of  his 
valuable  journal,  his  descriptions  of  Petra  and  Ammon 
enhance  the  value  of  the  treatise,  and  will  be  read  with 
much  interest. 

>  Together  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Black,  the  Rev.  Robert  M.  M'Cheyne, 
and  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bonar,  being  a  Deputation  from  the  Church 
of  Scotland  to  Palestine  and  other  countries,  to  make  inquiry  re- 
specting the  Jews. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Chap.  I.         Introduction 7 

Chap.  II.       Prophecies  concerning  Christ  and  the  Chris- 
tian Religion 19 

Chap.  III.      The  Destruction  of  Jerusalem 51 

Chap.  IV.      The  Jews 68 

Chap.  V.       Judea 89 

Ammon       .^    .    .  150 

Moab 161 

Edom,  or  Idumea       •    .    • 172 

Philistia,  Gaza,  &c 222 

Chap.  VI.      Nineveh 237 

Babylon 243 

Tyre 324 

Egypt 330 

Chap.  VII.    The  Arabs 342 

The  Africans 345 

Chap.  VIII.  The  Seven  Churches  of  Asia 349 

Conclusion 362 

Appendix 377 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


North-east  View  of  Petra,  Frontispiece.  Pag« 

Views  of  the  Exterior  and  Interior  of  Tombs     .    .    .  190, 191 

El  Deir ib. 

Corinthian  Columns  in  Petra 194 

Tomb  in  Petra 198 

BirsNimrood 304 


EVIDENCE  OF  PROPHECY. 


INTRODUCTION. 

No  subject  can  be  of  greater  importance,  either  to  the 
unbeliever  or  to  the  Christian,  than  an  investigation  of 
the  evidence  of  Christianity.  The  former,  if  his  mind 
be  not  fettered  by  the  strongest  prejudice,  and  if  he  be 
actuated  in  the  least  by  a  spirit  of  free  and  fair  inquiry, 
cannot  disavow  his  obligation  to  examine  its  claim  to  a 
divine  origin.  He  cannot  rest  secure  in  his  unbelief,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  own  mind,  without  manifest  dan- 
ger of  the  most  fatal  error,  till  he  has  impartially  weighed 
all  the  reasons  that  may  be  urged  on  its  behalf.  The 
proof  of  a  negative  is  acknowledged  and  felt  to  be  dif- 
ficult ;  and  it  can  never,  in  any  case,  be  attained  till  all 
direct  and  positive  evidence  to  the  contrary  be  com- 
pletely destroyed.  And  this,  at  least,  must  be  done 
before  it  can  be  proved  that  Christianity  is  not  true. 
Without  this  careful  and  candid  examination,  all  gratui- 
tous assumptions  and  fanciful  speculations,  all  hypotheti- 
cal reasonings  or  analogical  inferences,  that  seem  to 
militate  against  the  truth  of  religion,  may  be  totally 
erroneous ;  and  though  they  may  tend  to  excite  a  trans- 
ient doubt,  they  cannot  justify  a  settled  unbelief.  Being 
exclusively  regarded,  or  being  united  to  a  misappre- 
hension of  the  real  nature  of  the  Christian  religion,  the 
understanding  may  embrace  them  as  convincing;  but 
such  conviction  is  neither  rational  nor  consistent,  it  is 
only  a  misapplication  of  the  name  of  freethinking.  For, 
as  Christianity  appeals  to  reason  and  submits  its  cre- 
dentials,— as  it  courts  and  commands  the  most  trying 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

scrutiny,  that  scrutiny  the  unbehever  is  bound,  upon  his 
own  principles,  to  en^ge  in.  If  he  be  fearless  of 
wavering  in  his  unbelief,  he  will  not  shrink  from  the 
inquiry ;  or,  if  truth  be  his  object,  he  will  not  resist  the 
only  means  of  its  attainment,  that  he  may  either  disprove 
what  he  could  only  doubt  of  before,  or  yield  to  the  con- 
viction of  positive  evidence  and  undoubted  truth.  This 
unhesitating  challenge  religion  gives ;  and  that  man  is 
neither  a  champion  of  infidelity,  nor  a  lover  of  wisdom 
or  of  truth,  who  will  disown  or  decline  it. 

To  the  believer  such  a  subject  is  equally  important 
and  interesting.  The  apathy  of  nominal  Christians,  in 
the  present  day,  is  often  contrasted  with  the  zeal  of 
those  who  first  became  obedient  to  the  faith.  The 
moral  influence  of  the  Christian  religion  is  not  what  it 
has  been,  or  what  it  ought  to  be.  The  difference  in  the 
character  of  its  professors  may  be  greatly  attributed  to  a 
fainter  impression  and  less  confident  assurance  of  its 
truth.  Those  early  converts  who  witnessed  the  mira- 
cles of  our  Lord  and  of  his  apostles,  and  heard  their 
divine  doctrine,  and  they  who  received  the  immediate 
tradition  of  those  who  both  saw  and  heard  them,  and 
who  could  themselves  compare  the  moral  darkness  from 
which  they  had  emerged,  with  the  marvellous  light  of 
the  gospel,  founded  their  faith  upon  evidence;  pos- 
sessed the  firmest  conviction  of  the  truth  ;  were  distin- 
guished by  their  virtues,  as  well  as  by  their  profession, 
according  to  the  testimony  even  of  their  enemies  ;^  che- 
rished the  consolations,  and  were  inspired  by  the  hopes 
of  religion ;  and  lived  and  died,  actuated  by  the  hope 
of  immortality  and  the  certainty  of  a  future  state.  The 
contrast,  unhappily,  needs  no  elucidation.  The  lives  of 
professing  Christians,  in  general,  cease  to  add  a  confir- 
mation to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  while  they  have  often 
been  the  plea  of  infidels  against  it.  Yet  religion  and 
human  nature  are  still  the  same  as  they  were  when  men 
were  first  called  Christians,  and  when  the  believers  in 

'  Plinii  Epist.  lib.  x.  ep.  97 ;  Tertul.  Ap.  c.  2  ;  Gibbon,  c.  15,  vol, 
ii.  p.  315,  317,  edit.  Lond.  1815. 


INTRODUCTION.  » 

Jesus  dishonoured  not  his  name.  But  they  sought  more 
than  a  passive  and  unexamining  belief.  They  knew  in 
whom  they  beUeved  ;  they  felt  the  power  of  every  truth 
which  they  professed.  And  the  same  cause,  in  active 
operation,  would  be  productive  of  the  same  effects. 
The  same  strong  and  unwavering  faith  established  on 
reason  and  conscious  conviction,  would  be  creative  of 
the  same  peace  and  joy  in  believing,  and  of  all  their 
accompanying  fruits.  And  as  a  mean  of  destroying  the 
distinction,  wherever  it  exists,  between  the  profession 
and  the  reality  of  faith,  it  is  ever  the  prescribed  duty  of 
all,  who  profess  to  believe  in  the  gospel,  to  search  and 
to  try,  "  to  prove  all  things,  and  hold  fast  to  that  which 
is  good  ;"  and  to  "  be  able  to  give  an  answer  to  every 
one  that  asketh  them  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in 
them." 

To  the  sincere  Christian  it  must  ever  be  an  object  of 
the  highest  interest  to  search  into  the  reason  of  his  hope. 
The  farther  that  he  searches,  the  firmer  w411  be  his 
belief.  Knowledge  is  the  fruit  of  mental  labour,  the 
food  and  the  feast  of  the  mind.  In  the  pursuit  of  know- 
ledge, the  greater  the  excellence  of  the  subject  of  inquiry, 
the  deeper  ought  to  be  the  interest,  the  more  ardent  the 
investigation,  and  the  dearer  to  the  mind  the  acquisition 
of  the  truth.  And  that  knowledge  which  immediately 
affects  the  soul,  which  tends  to  exalt  the  moral  nature 
and  enlarge  the  religious  capacities  of  man,  which  per- 
tains to  eternity,  which  leads  not  merely  to  the  contem- 
plation of  the  works  of  the  great  Architect  of  the 
universe,  but  seeks  also  to  discover  an  accredited  re- 
velation of  his  will  and  a  way  to  his  favour,  and  which 
rests  not  in  its  progress  till  it  find  assurance  of  faith  or 
complete  conviction,  a  witness  without,  as  well  as  a 
witness  within,  is  surely  "like  unto  a  treasure  which  a 
man  found  hid  in  a  field,  and  sold  all  that  he  had  and 
bought  it."  And  it  is  delightful  to  have  every  doubt 
removed  by  the  positive  proof  of  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
— to  feel  that  conviction  of  its  certainty,  which  infidelity 
can  never  impart  to  her  votaries, — and  to  receive  that 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

assurance  of  the  faith,  which  is  as  superior  in  the  hope 
which  it  communicates,  as  in  the  certainty  on  which  it 
rests,  to  the  cheerless  and  disquieting  doubts  of  the  un- 
beheving  mind.  Instead  of  being  a  mere  prejudice  of 
education,  which  may  be  easily  shaken,  belief,  thus 
founded  on  reason,  becomes  fixed  and  immovable; 
and  all  the  scoffin^s  of  the  scorner,  and  speculations  of 
the  infidel,  lie  as  lightly  on  the  mind,  or  pass  as  imper- 
ceptibly over  it,  and  make  as  little  impression  there,  as 
the  spray  upon  a  rock. 

In  premising  a  few  remarks,  introductory  to  a  sketch 
of  the  prophecies,  little  can  be  said  on  the  general  and 
comprehensive  evidence  of  Christianity.  The  selection 
of  a  part  implies  no  disparagement  to  the  whole.  Ample 
means  for  the  confirmation  of  our  fkith  are  within  our 
reach.  Newton,  Bacon,  and  Locke,  whose  names  stand 
pre-eminent  in  human  science,  to  which  they  opened  a 
path  not  penetrated  before,  found  proof  sufficient  for  the 
complete  satisfaction  of  their  minds.  The  internal  evi- 
dence could  not  be  stronger  than  it  is.  There  are  mani- 
fold instances  of  undesigned  coincidences  in  the  Acts 
and  Epistles  of  the  apostles,  which  give  intrinsic  proof 
that  they  are  genuine  and  authentic.  No  better  precepts, 
no  stronger  motives  than  the  gospel  contains,  have  ever 
been  inculcated.  No  system  of  religion  has  ever  existed 
in  the  world  at  all  to  be  compared  to  it ;  and  none  can 
be  conceived  more  completely  adapted  to  the  necessities 
and  nature  of  a  sinful  being  like  man,  endowed  with  the 
faculty  of  reason  and  with  capacities  of  religion.  And 
the  miracles  were  of  such  a  nature  as  excluded  the  idea 
of  artifice,  or  delusion  ; — they  were  wrought  openly  in 
the  presence  of  multitudes ;  they  testified  the  benevo- 
lence of  a  Saviour,  as  well  as  the  power  of  the  Son  of 
God.  The  disciples  of  Christ  could  not  be  deceived 
respecting  them ;  for  they  were  themselves  endowed 
with  the  gift  of  tongues,  and  of  prophesying,  and  with 
the  power  of  working  miracles ;  they  devoted  their  lives 
to  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,  in  opposition  to  every 
human  interest,  and  amidst  continual  sufferings.     The 


#L. 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

Christian  religion  was  speedily  propagated  throughout 
the  whole  extent  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  even  beyond 
its  bounds.  The  written  testimony  remains  of  many 
who  became  converts  to  the  truth,  and  martyrs  to  its 
cause :  and  the  most  zealous  and  active  enemies  of  our 
faith  acknowledged  the  truth  of  the  miracles,  and  at- 
tributed them  to  the  agency  of  evil  spirits.  Yet  all  this 
accumulation  of  evidence  is  disregarded,  and  every  tes- 
timony is  rejected  unheard,  because  ages  have  since 
intervened,  and  because  it  bears  witness  to  works  that 
are  miraculous.  Though  these  general  objections  against 
the  truth  of  Christianity  have  been  ably  answered  and 
exposed,  yet  they  may  fairly  be  adduced  as  confirmatory 
of  the  proof  which  results  from  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy, 
and  as  binding  infidels  to  its  investigation.  For  it  sup- 
phes  that  evidence  which  the  enemies  of  religion,  or 
those  who  are  weak  in  the  faith,  would  require,  which 
applies  to  the  present  time,  and  which  stands  not  in 
need  of  any  testimony, — which  is  always  attainable  by 
the  researches  of  the  inquisitive,  and  often  obvious  to  the 
notice  of  all, — and  which  past,  present,  and  coming 
events  alike  unite  in  verifying ; — it  aflfords  an  increasing 
evidence,  and  receives  additional  attestations  in  each 
succeeding  age. 

But,  while  some  subterfuge  has  been  sought  for 
evading  the  force  of  the  internal  evidence,  and  the  con- 
viction which  a  belief  in  the  miracles  would  infallibly 
produce,  and  while  every  collateral  proof  is  neglected, 
the  prophecies  also  are  set  aside  without  investigation, 
as  of  too  vague  and  indefinite  a  nature  to  be  applied, 
with  certainty,  to  the  history  either  of  past  ages  or  of 
the  present.  A  very  faint  view  of  the  prophecies  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  Avill  suflSce  to  rectify  this 
equally  easy  and  erroneous  conclusion.  Although  some 
of  the  prophecies,  separately  considered,  may  appear 
ambiguous  and  obscure,  yet  a  general  view  of  them  all 
— of  the  harmony  which  prevails  throughout  the  pro- 
phecies, and  of  their  adaptation  to  the  facts  they  predict 
— must  strike  the  mind  of  the  most  careless  inquirer 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

with  an  apprehension  that  they  are  the  dictates  of  Om- 
niscience. But  many  of  the  prophecies  are  as  explicit 
and  direct  as  it  is  possible  that  they  could  have  been ; 
and,  as  history  confirms  their  truth,  so  they  sometimes 
tend  to  its  illustration,  of  which  our  future  inquiry  will 
furnish  us  with  examples.  And  if  the  prophetical  part 
of  Scripture,  which  refers  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  king- 
doms, had  been  more  explicit  than  it  is,  it  would  have 
appeared  to  encroach  on  the  Tree  agency  of  man  ; — it 
would  have  been  a  communication  of  the  foreknowledge 
of  events  which  men  would  have  grossly  abused  and 
perverted  to  other  purposes  rather  than  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  truth ;  and,  instead  of  being  a  stronger 
evidence  of  Christianity,  it  would  have  been  considered 
as  the  cause  of  the  accomplishment  of  the  events  pre- 
dicted, by  the  unity  and  combination  it  would  have 
excited  among  Christians;  and  thus  have  afforded  to 
the  unbeliever  a  more  reasonable  objection  against  the 
evidence  of  prophecy  than  any  that  can  be  now  alleged. 
It  is  in  cases  wherein  they  could  not  be  abused,  or 
wherein  the  agents  instrumental  in  their  fulfilment  were 
utterly  ignorant  of  their  existence,  that  the  prophecies 
are  as  descriptive  as  history  itself.  But  whenever  the 
knowledge  of  future  events  would  have  proved  prejudi- 
cial to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  world,  they  are 
couched  in  allegory,  which  their  accomplishment  alone 
can  expound  ;  and  drawn  with  that  degree  of  light  and 
shade  that  the  faithfulness  of  the  picture  may  best  be 
seen  from  the  proper  point  of  observation,  the  period  of 
their  completion.  Prophecy  must  thus,  in  many  in- 
stances, have  that  darkness  which  is  impenetrable  at 
first,  as  well  as  that  light  which  shall  be  able  to  dispel 
every  doubt  at  last ;  and,  as  it  cannot  be  an  evidence 
of  Christianity  until  the  event  demonstrate  its  own  truth, 
it  may  remain  obscure  till  history  become  its  interpreter, 
and  not  be  perfectly  obvious  till  the  fulfilment  of  the 
whole  series  with  which  it  is  connected.  But  the  gene- 
ral and  often  sole  objection  against  the  evidence  fi:om 
the  prophecies,  that  they  are  all  vague  and  ambiguous, 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

may  best  be  answered  and  set  aside  by  a  simple  exhibition 
of  those  numerous  and  distinct  predictions  which  have 
been  Hterally  accompHshed  ;  and  therefore  to  this  hmited 
view  of  them  the  following  pages  shall  chiefly  be  con- 
fined. 

Little  need  be  said  on  the  nature  of  proof  from  pro- 
phecy. That  it  is  the  effect  of  divine  interposition  can- 
not be  disputed.  It  is  equivalent  to  any  miracle,  and  is 
of  itself  evidently  miraculous.  The  foreknowledge  of 
the  actions  of  intelligent  and  moral  agents  is  one  of  the 
most  incomprehensible  attributes  of  the  Deity,  and  is 
exclusively  a  divine  perfection.  The  past,  the  present, 
and  the  future  are  alike  open  to  his  view,  and  to  his 
alone ;  and  there  can  be  no  stronger  proof  of  the  inter- 
position of  the  Most  High  than  that  which  prophecy 
affords.  Of  all  the  attributes  of  the  God  of  the  uni- 
verse, his  prescience  has  bewildered  and  baffled  the 
most  all  the  powers  of  human  perception ;  and  an  evi- 
dence of  the  exercise  of  this  perfection  in  the  revelation 
of  what  the  infinite  Mind  alone  could  make  known,  is 
the  seal  of  God,  which  can  never  be  counterfeited, 
aflfixed  to  the  truth  which  it  attests.  Whether  that  evi- 
dence has  been  aflforded,  is  a  matter  of  investigation ; 
but  if  it  has  unquestionably  been  given,  the  effect  of 
superhuman  agency  is  apparent,  and  the  truth  of  what 
it  was  given  to  prove,  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt.  If 
the  prophecies  of  the  Scriptures  can  be  proved  to  be 
genuine  ;  if  they  be  of  such  a  nature  as  no  foresight  of 
man  could  possibly  have  predicted ;  if  the  events  fore- 
told in  them  were  described  hundreds  or  even  thousands 
of  years  before  those  events  became  parts  of  the  history 
of  man ;  and  if  the  history  itself  correspond  with  the 
prediction ;  then  the  evidence  which  the  prophecies 
impart  is  a  sign  and  a  wonder  to  every  age :  no  clearer 
testimony  or  greater  assurance  of  the  truth  can  be  given ; 
and  if  men  do  not  beUeve  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  would  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose  from 
the  dead.  Even  if  one  were  to  rise  from  the  dead, 
evidence  of  the  fact  must  precede  conviction :  and  if 
2 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

the  mind  be  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  prophecy,  the 
result,  in  either  case,  is  the  same.  The  voice  of  Om- 
nipotence alone  could  call  the  dead  from  the  tomb  ;  the 
voice  of  Omniscience  alone  could  tell  all  that  lay  hid  in 
dark  futurity,  which  to  man  is  as  impenetrable  as  the 
mansions  of  the  dead ;  and  both  are  alike  the  voice  of 
God. 

Of  the  antiquity  of  the  Scriptures  there  is  the  amplest 
proof.  The  books  of  the  Old  Testament  were  not,  like 
other  writings,  detached  and  unconnected  efforts  of 
genius  and  research,  or  mere  subjects  of  amusement  or 
instruction.  They  were  essential  to  the  constitution  of 
the  Jewish  state ;  the  possession  of  them  was  a  great 
cause  of  the  peculiarities  of  that  people ;  and  they  con- 
tain their  moral  and  their  civil  law,  and  their  history,  as 
well  as  the  prophecies,  of  which  they  were  the  records 
and  the  guardians.  They  were  received  by  the  Jews  as 
of  divine  authority ;  and  as  such  they  were  published 
and  preserved.  They  were  proved  to  be  ancient 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago.*  And  in  express  reference^ 
to  the  prophecies  concerning  the  Messiah,  contained  in 
them,  they  were  denominated  by  Tacitus,  the  ancient 
writings  of  the  priests.  Instead  of  being  secluded  from 
observation,  they  were  translated  into  Greek  above  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian  era ;  and 
they  were  read  in  the  synagogues  every  Sabbath-day. 
The  most  ancient  part  of  them  was  received  as  divinely 
inspired,  and  was  preserved  in  their  own  language,  by 
the  Samaritans,  who  were  at  enmity  with  the  Jews. 
They  have  ever  been  sacredly  kept  unaltered,  in  a  more 
remarkable  degree,  and  with  more  scrupulous  care,  than 
any  other  compositions  whatever.^     And  the  antiquity 

'  Josephus  c.  Apion. 

2  There  are  not  wanting  proofs  of  the  most  scrupulous  care  of 
the  Hebrew  text  on  the  part  of  the  Jews :  they  have  counted  the 
large  and  small  sections,  the  verses,  the  words,  and  even  the 
letters  in  some  of  the  books.  They  have  likewise  reckoned  which  - 
is  the  middle  letter  of  the  Pentateuch,  which  is  the  middle  clause 
of  each  book,  and  how  many  times  each  letter  of  the  alphabet 
occurs  in  all  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.    This,  at  least,  shows  that 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

and  authenticity  of  them  rest  so  little  on  Christian  testi- 
mony alone,  that  it  is  from  the  records  of  our  enemies 
that  they  are  confirmed,  and  from  which  is  derived  the 
evidence  of  our  faith.  Even  the  very  language  in  which 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  were  originally  written, 
had  ceased  to  be  spoken  before  the  coming  of  Christ. 
No  stronger  evidence  of  their  antiquity  could  be  alleged, 
than  what  is  indisputably  true ;  and  if  it  were  to  be 
questioned,  every  other  truth  of  ancient  history  must  first 
be  set  aside. 

That  the  prediction  was  prior  to  the  event,  many  facts 
in  the  present  state  of  the  world  abundantly  testify  ;  and 
'many  prophecies  remain  even  yet  to  be  fulfilled.  But, 
independently  of  external  testimony,  the  prophecies  them- 
selves bear  intrinsic  marks  of  their  antiquity  and  of 
their  truth.  Predictions  concerning  the  same  events  are 
sometimes  delivered  by  a  succession  of  prophets.  Some- 
times the  same  prophecy  concerning  any  city  or  nation 
gradually  meets  its  fulfilment  during  a  long  protracted 
period,  where  the  truth  of  the  prediction  must  be  unfold- 
ed by  degrees.  They  are,  in  general,  so  interwoven  with 
the  history  of  the  Jews ;  so  casually  introduced  in  their 
application  to  the  surrounding  nations ;  so  frequently 
concealed  in  their  purport,  even  from  the  honoured  but 
unconscious  organs  of  their  communication,  and  pre- 
serving throughout  so  entire  a  consistency ;  so  diflferent 
in  the  modes  of  their  narration,  and  each  part  preserving 
its  own  particular  character ;  so  delivered  without  form 
or  system ;  so  shadowed  sometimes  under  symbols ;  so 
complete  when  compared  and  combined ;  so  apparently 
unconnected  when  disjoined,  and  revealed  in  such  a 
variety  of  modes  and  expressions,  that  the  very  manner 
of  their  conveyance  forbids  the  idea  of  artifice;  or  if 
they  were  false,  nothing  could  admit  of  more  easy 
detection ;  if  true,  nothing  could  be  more  impossible  to 
have  been  conceived  by  man.  And  they  must  either  be 
a  number  of  incoherent  and  detached   pretensions   to 

the  Jews  were  religiously  careful  to  preserve  the  literal  sense  of 
Scripture. — (Allen's  Modern  Judaism;  Simon,  Crit.  Hist.  6,  SB.'i 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

inspiration,  that  can  bear  no  scrutiny,  and  that  have  no 
reference  to  futurity  but  what  deceivers  might  have 
devised :  or  else,  as  the  only  alternative,  they  give  such 
a  comprehensive,  yet  minute  representation  of  future 
events — so  various,  yet  so  distinct — so  distant,  yet  so 
true — that  none  but  He  who  knoweth  all  things  could 
have  revealed  them  to  man,  and  none  but  those  who 
have  hardened  their  hearts  and  ^;losed  their  eyes,  can 
forbear  from  feeling  and  from  perceiving  them  to  be  cre- 
dentials of  the  truth,  clear  as  light  from  heaven.  To 
justify  their  pretensions  to  their  contemporaries,  the 
prophets  referred,  on  particular  occasions,  to  some  ap- 
proaching circumstance  as  a  proof  of  their  prophetic' 
spirit,  and  as  a  symbol  or  representation  of  a  more 
distant  and  important  event.  They  could  thus  be  dis- 
tinguished in  their  own  age  from  false  prophets,  if  their 
predictions  were  then  true :  and  they  ventured  to  raise, 
from  the  succeeding  ages  of  the  world,  that  veil  which 
no  uninspired  mortal  could  touch.  They  spoke  of  a 
deliverer  of  the  human  race ;  they  described  the  desola- 
tion of  cities  and  of  nations,  whose  greatness  was  then 
unshaken,  and  whose  splendour  has  ever  since  been 
unrivalled  ;  and  their  predictions  were  of  such  a  charac- 
ter, that  time  would  infallibly  refute  or  realize  them. 

Religion  deserves  a  candid  examination,  and  it  de- 
mands nothing  more.  The  fulfilment  of  prophecy  forms 
part  of  the  evidence  of  Christianity.  And  are  the  pro- 
phecies false,  or  are  they  true  ?  Is  their  fallacy  exposed, 
or  their  truth  ratified  by  the  event  ?  And  whether  are 
they  thus  proved  to  be  the  delusions  of  impostors,  or  the 
dictates  of  inspiration  ?  To  the  solution  of  these  ques- 
tions a  patient  and  impartial  inquiry  alone  is  requisite ; 
reason  alone  is  appealed  to,  and  no  other  faith  is  here 
necessary  but  that  which  arises  as  the  natural  and  spon- 
taneous fruit  of  rational  conviction.  The  man  who 
withholds  this  inquiry,  and  who  will  not  be  impartially 
guided  by  its  result,  is  not  only  reckless  of  his  fate,  but 
devoid  of  that  of  which  he  prides  himself  the  most, — 
even  of  all  true  liberality  of  sentiment :  he  is  the  bigot 


INTRODUCTION.  l^ 

of  infidelity,  who  will  not  believe  the  truth  because  it  is  the 
truth.  It  is  incontestable,  that,  in  a  variety  of  ways,  a  mar- 
vellous change  has  taken  place  in  the  religious  and  politi- 
cal state  of  the  world  since  the  prophecies  were  delivered. 
A  system  of  rehgion,  widely  different  from  any  that  then 
existed,  has  emanated  from  the  land  of  Judea,  and  has 
spread  over  the  civilized  world.  Many  remarkable  cir- 
cumstances attended  its  origin  and  its  progress.  The 
history  of  the  life  and  character  of  its  Founder,  as  it 
was  written  at  the  time,  and  acknowledged  as  authentic 
by  those  who  beUeved  on  him,  is  so  completely  without 
a  parallel,  that  it  has  often  attracted  the  admiration  ana 
excited  the  astonishment  of  infidels ;  and  one  of  them  even 
asks,  if  it  be  possible  that  the  sacred  Personage,  whose  his- 
tory the  Scripture  contains,  should  be  himself  a  mere  man , 
and  acknowledges  that  the  fiction  of  such  a  character  is  more 
inconceivable  than  the  reality.^  He  possessed  no  temporal 
power, — he  inculcated  every  virtue, — his  life  was  spotless 
and  perfect  as  his  doctrine, — he  was  put  to  death  as  a  cri- 
minal. His  religion  was  rapidly  propagated, — his  follow- 
ers were  persecuted,  but  their  cause  prevailed.  The 
purity  of  his  doctrine  was  maintained  for  a  time,  but  it 
was  afterwards  corrupted.  Yet  Christianity  has  effected 
a  great  change.  Since  its  establishment,  the  worship 
of  heathen  deities  has  ceased ;  all  sacrifices  have  been 
abolished,  even  where  human  victims  were  immolated 
before ;  and  slavery,  which  prevailed  in  every  state,  is 
now  unknown  in  every  Christian  country  throughout 
Europe; — knowledge  has  been  increased,  and  many 
nations  have  been  civilized.  The  Christian  religion  has 
been  extended  over  a  great  part  of  the  world,  and  it  is 
still  enlarging  its  boundary ;  and  the  Jews,  though  it 
originated  among  them,  yet  continue  to  reject  it.  In 
regard  to  the  political  changes  or  revolutions  of  states, 
since  the  prophecies  concerning  them  were  delivered, — 
Jerusalem  was  destroyed  and  laid  waste  by  the  Romans : 
the  land  of  Palestine,  and  the  surrounding  countries, 

'  Rousseau's  Emilius,  vol.  ii.  p.  215,  quoted  in  Brewster's  Testi- 
monies, p.  133. 

2* 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

are  now  thinly  inhabited,  and,  in  comparison  of  their 
former  fertiUty,  have  been  almost  converted  into  deserts : 
the  Jews  have  been  scattered  among  the  nations,  and 
remain  to  this  day  a  dispersed  and  yet  a  distinct  people : 
Egypt,  one  of  the  first  and  most  powerful  of  nations, 
has  long  ceased  to  be  a  kingdom :  Nineveh  is  no  more : 
Babylon  is  now  a  ruin :  the  Persian  empire  succeeded 
to  the  Babylonian :  the  Grecian  empire  succeeded  to  the 
Persian,  and  the  Roman  to  the  Grecian :  the  old  Roman 
empire  has  been  divided  into  several  kingdoms  :  Rome 
itself  became  the  seat  of  a  government  of  a  different 
nature  from  any  other  that  ever  existed  in  the  world : 
the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  was  transformed  into  a  system 
of  spiritual  tyranny  and  of  temporal  power :  the  authority 
of  the  pope  was  held  supreme  in  Europe  for  many  ages : 
the  Saracens  obtained  a  sudden  and  mighty  power; 
overran  great  part  of  Asia  and  of  Europe ;  and  many 
parts  of  Christendom  suffered  much  from  their  incursions : 
the  Arabs  maintain  their  warlike  character,  and  retain 
possession  of  their  own  land  :  the  Africans  are  a  humble 
race,  and  are  still  treated  as  slaves :  colonies  have  been 
spread  from  Europe  to  Asia,  and  are  enlarging  there : 
the  Turkish  empire  attained  to  great  power ;  it  continued 
to  rise  for  the  space  of  several  centuries,  but  it  paused 
in  its  progress,  has  since  decayed,  and  now  evidently 
verges  to  its  fall.  These  form  some  of  the  most  promi- 
nent and  remarkable  facts  of  the  history  of  the  world 
from  the  ages  of  the  prophets  to  the  present  time ;  and 
if  to  each  and  all  of  them,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  an 
index  is  to  be  found  in  the  prophecies,  we  may  warrant- 
ably  conclude  that  they  could  only  have  been  revealed 
by  the  Ruler  among  the  nations,  and  that  they  afford 
more  than  human  testimony  of  the  truth  of  Christianity. 
In  the  following  treatise,  an  attempt  is  made  to  give 
a  general  and  concise  sketch  of  such  of  the  prophecies 
as  have  been  distinctly  foretold  and  clearly  fulfilled,  and 
as  may  be  deemed  suflftcient  to  illustrate  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  And,  if  one  unbeliever  be  led  the  first 
step  to  a  full  and  candid  investigation  of  the  truth,— if 


OF  THE   COMING  OF   A  SAVIOUR.  19 

one  doubting  mind  be  convinced, — if  one  Christian  be 
confirmed  more  strongly  in  his  belief, — if  one  ray  of  the 
hope  of  better  things  to  come  arise  from  hence,  to  enli- 
ven a  single  sorrowing  heart, — if  one  atom  be  added  to 
the  mass  of  evidence,  the  author  of  this  little  work 
will  neither  have  lost  his  reward  nor  spent  his  labour  in 
vain. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROPHECIES    CONCERNING    CHRIST    AND     THE     CHRISTIAN 
RELIGION. 

It  is  one  of  the  remarkable  peculiarities  of  the  Jewish 
religion,  that  while  it  claimed  superiority  over  every 
other,  and  was  distinguished  from  them  all,  as  alone 
inculcating  the  worship  of  the  only  living  and  true  God, 
and  while  it  was  perfectly  suited  to  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  designed,  it  acknowledged  that  it  was  it- 
self only  preparatory  to  a  future,  a  better,  and  perfect 
revelation.  It  was  professedly  adapted  and  limited  to 
one  particular  people ; — it  was  confined,  in  many  of  its 
institutions,  to  the  land  of  Judea ;  its  morality  was  in- 
complete ; — its  ritual  observances  were  numerous,  oppres- 
sive, and  devoid  of  any  inherent  merit  ;^  and  being  partial, 
imperfect,  and  temporary,  and  full  of  promises  of  better 
things  to  come,  for  which  it  was  the  only  means  of  pre- 
paring the  way,  it  was  evidently  intended  to  be  the 
presage  of  another.  It  was  not  even  calculated  of  itself 
to  fulfil  the  promise  which  it  records  as  given  unto 
Abraham,  that  in  him  all  the  families  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed ;  though  its  original  institution  was  founded 

'  "Because  they  had  not  executed  my  judgments,  but  had  de- 
spised my  statutes,  and  had  polluted  my  Sabbaths,  and  their  eyes 
were  after  their  fathers'  idols ;  wherefore  I  gave  them  also  sta- 
tutes that  were  not  good,  and  judgments  whereby  they  should  not 
live."     (Ezek.  xx.  24,  25  ;  Acts  xv.  10.) 


20  OF  THE   COfMING 

upon  this  promise,  and  although  the  accomplishment  of 
it  v/as  the  great  end  to  be  promoted,  by  the  distinction 
and  separation  of  his  descendants  from  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth.  But  it  was  subservient  to  this  end,  though  it 
could  not  directly  accomplish  it ;  for  the  coming  of  a 
Saviour  was  the  great  theme  of  prophecy,  and  the  uni- 
versal belief  of  the  Jews.  From  the  commencement  to 
the  conclusion  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  it 
is  predicted  or  prefigured.  They  represent  the  first  act 
of  divine  justice,  which  was  exercised  on  the  primo- 
genitors of  the  human  race,  as  mingled  with  divine 
mercy.  Before  their  seclusion  from  paradise,  a  gleam  of 
hope  was  seen  to  shine  around  them,  in  the  promise  of  a 
suffering  but  triumphant  Deliverer.  To  Abraham  the 
same  promise  was  conveyed  in  a  more  definite  form. 
Jacob  spoke  distinctly  of  the  coming  of  a  Saviour. 
Moses,  the  legislator  and  leader  of  the  Hebrews,  pro- 
phesied of  another  lawgiver  that  God  was  to  raise  up  in 
a  future  age.*  And  while  these  early  and  general  pre- 
dictions occur  in  the  historical  part  of  Scripture,  which 
sufficiently  mark  the  purposed  design  of  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation, the  books  that  are  avowedly  prophetic  are 
clearly  descriptive,  as  a  minuter  search  will  attest,  of  the 
advent  of  a  Saviour,  and  of  every  thing  pertaining  to  the 
kingdom  he  was  to  establish.  Many  things,  apparently 
contradictory  and  irreconcilable,  are  foretold  as  referring 
to  a  great  Deliverer,  whose  dignity,  whose  character,  and 
whose  office  were  altogether  peculiar,  and  in  whom  the 
fate  of  human  nature  is  represented  as  involved.  Many 
passages,  that  can  bear  no  other  application,  clearly  tes- 
tify of  him  :  Thy  king  cometh — thy  salvation  cometh — 
the  Redeemer  shall  come  to  Zion — the  Lord  cometh — 
the  messenger  of  the  covenant,  he  shall  come — blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,^  are  expres- 
sions that  occur  throughout  the  prophecies.  These 
unequivocally  speak  of  the  coming  of  a  Saviour.     But 

»  Deut.  xviii.  15,  18. 

3  Zech.  ix.  9  ;  Isa.  lix.  20  ;    Isa.  Ixii.  11;   Mai.  iii.  1;    Isa.  xxxv. 
4 ;  Ps.  cxviiJ.  26  ;  Dan.  ix.  26,  26. 


OF   A   SAVIOUR.  21 

were  every  other  proof  wanting,  the  prophecy  of  Daniel 
is  sufficient  incontrovertibly  to  establish  the  fact,  which 
we  affirm  in  the  very  words, — that  the  coming  of  the. 
Messiah  is  foretold  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  same 
fact  is  confirmed  by  the  belief  of  the  Jews  in  every  age. 
It  is  so  deeply  and  indelibly  impressed  on  their  minds, 
that  notwithstanding  the  dispersion  of  their  race  through- 
out the  world,  and  the  disappointment  of  their  hopes  for 
eighteen  hundred  years  after  the  prescribed  period  of 
his  coming,  the  expectation  of  the  Messiah  still  forms 
a  bond  of  union  which  no  distance  can  dissolve,  and 
which  no  earthly  power  can  destroy. 

As  the  Old  Testament  does  contain  prophecies  of  a 
Saviour  that  was  to  appear  in  the  world,  the  only  ques- 
tion to  be  resolved  is,  whether  all  that  it  testifies  of  him 
be  fulfilled  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ?  On  a  subject 
so  interesting,  so  extensive  and  important,  which  has 
been  so  amply  discussed  by  many  able  divines,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  works  of  Barrow,  of  Pearson, 
and  of  Clarke.  A  summary  view  must  be  very  imper- 
fect and,  incomplete  ;  but  it  is  here  given,  as  it  may 
serve,  to  the  general  reader,  to  exhibit  the  connection 
between  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament,  and  as  of  it- 
self it  may  be  deemed  conclusive  of  the  argument  in 
favour  of  Christianity. 

A  few  of  the  leading  features  of  the  prophecies  con- 
cerning Christ,  and  their  fulfilment,  shall  be  traced ;  as 
they  mark  the  time  of  his  appearance,  the  place  of  his 
birth,  and  the  family  out  of  which  he  was  to  arise ;  his 
life  and  character,  his  miracles,  his  sufferings,  and  his 
death  ;  the  nature  of  his  doctrine,  the  design  and  the 
effect  of  his  coming,  and  the  extent  of  his  kingdom. 

The  time  of  the  Messiah's  appearance  in  the  world, 
as  predicted  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  defined  by  a  num- 
ber of  concurring  circumstances,  that  fix  it  to  the  very 
date  of  the  advent  of  Christ.  The  last  blessing  of  Ja- 
cob to  his  sons,  when  he  commanded  them  to  gather 
themselves  together  that  he  might  tell  them  what  should 
befall  them  in  the  last  days,  contains  this  prediction  con- 


X 


22  THE  TIME   OF  THE 

cemiog  Judah:  "The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  fh)m 
Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shi- 
loh  come ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  peo- 
ple be.'"  The  date  fixed  by  this  prophecy  for  the 
coming  of  Shiloh,  or  the  Saviour,  was  not  to  exceed  the 
time  that  the  descendants  of  Judah  were  to  continue  a 
united  people — that  a  king  should  reign  among  them — 
that  they  should  be  governed  by  their  own  laws,  and 
that  their  judges  were  to  be  from  among  their  brethren. 
The  prophecy  of  Malachi  adds  another  standard  for 
measuring  the  time ;  "  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger, 
and  he  shall  prepare  the  way  before  me ;  and  the  Lord 
whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple,  even 
the  messenger  of  the  covenant,  whom  ye  delight  in ; 
behold,  he  shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."*  No 
words  can  be  more  expressive  of  the  coming  of  the 
promised  Messiah;  and  they  as  clearly  imply  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  temple  before  it  should  be  destroyed. 
But  it  may  also  be  here  remarked,  that  Malachi  was 
the  last  of  the  prophets :  with  his  predictions  the  vision 
and  the  prophecy  were  sealed  up,  or  the  canon  of  the 
Old  Testament  was  completed.  Though  many  prophets 
immediately  preceded  him,  after  his  time  there  was  no 
prophet  in  Israel ;  but  all  the  Jews,  whether  of  ancient 
or  modern  times,  look  for  a  messenger  to  prepare  the 
way  of  the  Lord,  immediately  before  his  coming.  The 
long  succession  of  prophets  had  drawn  to  a  close  ;  and 
the  concluding  words  of  the  Old  Testament,  subjoined 
to  an  admonition  to  remember  the  law  of  Moses,  import 
that  the  next  prophet  would  be  the  harbinger  of  the 
Messiah.  Another  criterion  of  the  time  is  thus  imparted. 
In  regard  to  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  before  the 
destruction  of  the  second  temple,  the  words  of  Haggai 
are  remarkably  explicit:  "  The  Desire  of  all  nations  shall 
come  ;  and  I  will  fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be 
greater  than  of  the  former ;  and  in  this  place  will  I  give 
peace."''  The  contrast  which  the  prophet  had  just 
>  Gen.  xlix.  10.  2  Mai.  in.  1.  ^  Hag.  ii.  7,  9. 


BIRTH   OF  CHRIST.  23 

drawn  between  the  glory  of  Solomon's  temple  and  that 
which  had  been  erected  in  its  stead,  to  which  he  declares 
it  was  in  comparison  as  nothing ;  the  solemn  manner  of 
its  introduction,  *••  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  Yet  once, 
it  is  a  little  while,  and  I  will  shake  the  heavens  and  the 
earth ;"  the  excellency  of  the  latter  house  excelling  that 
of  gold  and  silver ;  the  expression  so  characteristic  of 
the  Messiah,  the  "  desire  of  all  nations ;"  and  the  bless- 
ing of  peace  that  was  to  accompany  his  coming,  all 
tend  to  denote  that  He  alone  is  spoken  of,  who  was  the 
hope  of  Israel,  and  of  whom  all  the  prophets  did  testify, 
and  that  his  presence  would  give  to  that  temple  a  greater 
glory  than  that  of  the  former.  The  Saviour  was  thus 
to  appear,  according  to  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, during  the  time  of  the  continuance  of  the 
kingdom  of  Judah,  previous  to  the  demolition  of  the 
temple,  and  immediately  subsequent  to  the  next  prophet. 
But  the  time  is  rendered  yet  more  definite.  In  the  pro- 
phecies of  Daniel,  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  is  not 
only  foretold  as  commencing  in  the  time  of  the  fourth 
monarchy  or  Roman  empire  ;  but  the  express  number  of 
years  that  were  to  precede  his  coming  is  plainly  inti- 
mated :  "  Seventy  weeks  are  determined  upon  thy  peo- 
ple, and  upon  thy  holy  city,  to  finish  the  transgression, 
and  to  make  an  end  of  sins,  and  to  make  reconciliation 
for  iniquity,  and  to  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness, 
and  to  seal  up  the  vision  and  prophecy,  and  to  anoint 
the  Most  Holy.  Know  therefore,  and  understand,  that 
from  the  going  forth  of  the  commandment  to  restore  and 
to  build  Jerusalem,  unto  the  Messiah  the  Prince,  shall 
be  seven  weeks  and  threescore  and  two  weeks."* 
Computation  by  weeks  of  years  was  common  among  the 
Jews,  and  every  seventh  was  the  sabbatical  year; 
seventy  weeks  thus  amounted  to  four  hundred  and 
ninety  years.  In  these  words  the  prophet  marks  the 
very  time,  and  uses  the  very  name  of  Messiah  the 
Prince  ;  so  entirely  is  all  ambiguity  done  away. 

The  plainest  inference  may  be  drawn  from  these  pro- 

^  '  Dan.  ix.  24,  25. 


24  THE   TIME   OF  THE 

phecies.  All  of  them,  while,  in  every  respect,  they  pre- 
suppose the  most  perfect  knowledge  of  futurity ;  while 
they  were  unquestionably  delivered  and  publicly  known 
for  ages  previous  to  the  time  to  which  they  referred ; 
while  there  is  the  testimony,  from  great  authorities 
among  the  Jews,  of  their  application  to  the  time  of  the 
Messiah;*  and  while  they  refer  to  different  contingent 
and  unconnected  events,  utterly  undeterminable  and 
inconceivable  by  all  human  sagacity ; — accord  in  perfect 
unison  to  a  single  precise  period,  where  all  their  differ- 
ent lines  terminate  at  once — the  very  fulness  of  time 
when  Jesus  appeared.  A  king  then  reigned  over  the 
Jews  in  their  own  land  ;  they  were  governed  by  their 
own  laws ;  and  the  council  of  their  nation  exercised  its 
authority  and  power.  Before  that  period,  the  other 
tribes  were  extinct  or  dispersed  among  the  nations. 
Judah  alone  remained,  and  the  last  sceptre  in  Israel  had 
not  then  departed  from  it.  Every  stone  of  the  temple 
was  then  unmoved  :  it  was  the  admiration  of  the  Ro- 
mans, and  might  have  stood  for  ages.  But  in  a  short 
space,  all  these  concurring  testimonies  to  the  time  of  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah  passed  away.  About  the  very 
time  when  Christ,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  age,  first 
publicly  appeared  in  the  temple,  about  his  Father's 
business,  Archelaus  the  king  was  dethroned  and  ba- 
nished, Coponius  was  appointed  procurator,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Judea,  the  last  remnant  of  the  greatness  of 
Israel,  was  debased  into  a  part  of  the  province  of  Syria.* 
The  sceptre  was  smitten  from  the  hands  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah ;  the  crown  fell  from  their  heads  ;  their  glory 
departed  ;  and  soon  after  the  death  of  Christ,  of  their 
temple  one  stone  was  not  left  upon  another ;  their  com- 
monwealth itself  became  as  complete  a  ruin,  and  was 
broken  in  pieces ;  and  they  have  ever  since  been  scat- 
tered throughout  the  world,  a  name,  but  not  a  nation. 
After  the  lapse  of  nearly  four  hundred  years  posterior  to 

'  Grotius  de  Verit.  1.  v.  c.  xiv  ;  Opera,  torn.  iv.  p.  80,  ed.  Lond. 
1679.     Pearson  on  the  Creed,  art.  ii. 
2  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  xvii.  c.  16,  (al.  13.)  xviii.  1. 


BIRTH    OF    CHRIST.  25 

the  time  of  Malachi,  another  prophet  appeared,  who  was 
the  herald  of  the  Messiah.  And  the  testimony  of  Jose- 
phus  confirms  the  account  given  in  Scripture  of  John 
the  Baptist/  Every  mark  that  denoted  the  time  of  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah,  was  erased  soon  after  the  cruci- 
fixion of  Christ,  and  could  never  afterwards  be  renewed. 
And,  with  respect  to  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  it  is 
remarkable,  at  this  remote  period,  how  little  discrepancj 
of  opinion  has  existed  among  the  most  learned  men,  as 
to  the  space  from  the  time  of  the  passing  out  of  the  edict 
to  rebuild  Jerusalem,  after  the  Babylonish  captivity,  to 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  and  the  subse- 
quent events  foretold  in  the  prophecy.  Our  design  pre- 
cludes detail :  but  the  minute  coincidence  of  the  narrative 
of  the  New  Testament  and  the  history  of  the  Jews,  wdth 
the  subdivisions  of  time  which  it  enumerates,  are  addi- 
tional attestations  of  its  general  accuracy  as  applicable  to 
Christ.  This  coincidence  is  the  more  striking,  as  it  is 
unnoticed  by  the  relaters  of  the  facts  which  establish  it, 
and  it  has  been  left,  without  the  possibility  of  any  adap- 
tation of  the  events,  to  the  discovery  of  modem  chronolo- 
gists.  The  following  observations  of  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke, 
partly  communicated  to  him,  as  he  acknowledges,  by  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  elucidate  this  prophecy  so  clearly,  that 
every  reader  will  forgive  their  insertion  : — "  When  the 
angel  says  to  Daniel,  Seventy  weeks  are  determined  upon 
thy  people,  Sfc.  ;  was  this  written  after  the  event }  Or 
can  it  reasonably  be  ascribed  to  chance,  that  from  the 
seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes  the  king,  (when  Ezra  went 
up  from  Babylon  unto  Jerusalem  with  a  commission  to 
restore  the  government  of  the  Jews,)  to  the  death  of 
Christ,  (from  ann.  JYabon.  290,  to  ann.  JYabon.  780,) 
should  be  precisely  490  (seventy  weeks  of)  years  ? 
When  the  angel  tells  Daniel,  that  in  threescore  and  twa 
weeks,  the  street  (of  Jerusalem)  should  be  built  again, 
and  the  wall,  even  in  troublous  times ;  (but  this,  in 
troublous  times  not  like  those  that  should  be  under  Mes- 
siah the  Prince  when  he  should  come  to  reign ;)  was 
'  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  xviii.  c.  5,  (6,)  2. 
3 


26  THE   PLACE   OF 

this  written  after  the  event  ?  Or  can  it  reasoiiably  be 
ascribed  to  chance,  that  from  the  28th  year  of  Artax- 
erxes,  when  the  walls  were  finished,  to  the  birth  of 
Christ,  (from  ann.  JVabon.  311  to  745,)  should  be  pre- 
cisely 434  (62  weeks  of)  years  ?  When  Daniel  farther 
says,  And  he  shall  confirm  (or,  nevertheless  he  shall 
confirm)  the  covenant  with  many  for  one  week  ;  was 
this  written  after  the  event  ?  Or  can  it  reasonably  be 
ascribed  to  chance,  that  from  the  death  of  Christ  {ann. 
Dom.  33)  to  the  command  ^iven  first  to  Peter  to  preach 
to  Cornelius  and  the  Gentiles,  {ann.  Dom.  40,)  should 
be  exactly  seven  (one  week  of)  years?  When  he  still 
adds,  And  in  the  midst  of  the  week,  {and  in  half  a  week,) 
he  shall  cause  the  sacrifice  and  the  oblation  to  cease,  and 
for  the  overs^preading  of  abominations  he  shall  make  it 
dJesolate ;  was  this  written  after  the  Q.Ye.ni  ?  Or  can 
it  with  any  reason  be  ascribed  to  chance,  that  from 
Vespasian's  march  into  Judea  in  the  spring  ann.  Bom. 
67,  to  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  in  the  autumn 
ann.  Dom.  70,  should  be  half  a  septenary  of  years,  or 
three  years  and  a  half?"* 

That  the  time  at  which  the  promised  Messiah  was  to 
appear  is  clearly  defined  in  these  prophecies  ;  that  the 
expectation  of  the  coming  of  a  great  king  or  deliverer, 
was  then  prevalent,  not  only  among  the  Jews,  but  among 
all  the  eastern  nations,  in  consequence  of  these  prophe- 
cies ;  that  it  afterwards  excited  that  people  to  revolt,  and 
proved  the  cause  of  their  greater  destruction, — the  im- 
partial and  unsuspected  evidence  of  heathen  authors  is 
combined  with  the  reluctant  and  ample  testimony  of  the 
Jews  themselves,  to  attest. 

Tacitus,  Suetonius,  Josephus,  and  Philo  agree  in 
testifying  the  antiquity  of  the  prophecies,  and  their 
acknowledged  reference  to  that  period.^    Even  the  Jews, 

'  Clarke's  Works,  fol.  edit.  vol.  ii.  p.  721. 

2  "PIuribuspersuasioinerat,an<t9Missacerdotum  Uteris contineri, 
eo  ipso  tempore  fore,  ut  valesceret  Oriens,  profectique  Judcsa  rerum 
potirentur.  Quae  ambages  Vespasianum  et  Titum  praedixerant. 
Sed  vulgus,  (Judaeorum,)  more  humanie  cupidinis,  sibi  tantam 
fatorum  magnitudinem  interpretati,  ne  adversis  quidem  ad  vera 


Christ's  jnativity.  27 

.':  this  day,  own  4;hat  the  time  when*their  Messiah  ought 
to  have  appeared,  according  to  their  prophecies,  is  long 
since  passed,  and  they  attribute  the  delay  of  his  coming 
to  the  sinfulness  of  their  nation.  And  thus,  from  the 
distinct  prophecies  themselves,  from  the  testimony  of 
profane  historians,  and  from  the  concessions  of  the  Jews, 
every  requisite  proof  is  afforded  that  Christ  appeared 
when  all  the  concurring  circumstances  of  the  time  denoted 
the  prophesied  period  of  his  advent. 

The  predictions  contained  in  the  Old  Testament  re- 
specting both  the  family  out  of  which  the  Messiah  was 
to  arise,  and  the  place  of  his  birth,  are  almost  as  circum- 
stantial, and  are  equally  appHcable  to  Christ,  as  those 
which  refer  to  the  time  of  his  appearance.  He  was  to 
be  an  Israelite,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  of  the  family  of 
David,  and  of  the  town  of  Bethlehem.  The  two  former 
of  these  particulars  are  implied  in  the  promise  made  to 
Abraham — in  the  prediction  of  Moses — in  the  prophetic 
benediction  of  Jacob  to  Judah — and  in  the  reason  assign- 
ed for  the  superiority  of  that  tribe,  because  out  of  it  the 
chief  ruler  should  arise.  And  the  two  last,  that  the 
Messiah  was  to  be  a  descendant  of  David  and  a  native 
of  Bethlehem,  are  expressly  affirmed.  There  shall  come 
forth  a  rod  out  of  the  stem  of  Jesse ^  and  a  branch  shall 
grow  out  of  his  roots ;  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall 
rest  upon  him^  That  this  prophecy  refers  to  the  deliver- 
er of  the  human  race,  is  evident  from  the  whole  of  the 
succeeding  chapter,  which  is  descriptive  of  the  kingdom 
of  the  Messiah,  of  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  and  of  the 
restoration  of  Israel.  The  same  fact  is  predicted  in 
many  passages  of  the  prophecies  ; — "  Thine  house  and 
thy  kingdom  shall  be  estabUshed  for  ever  before  thee. — 
f       I  have  made  a  covenant  with  my  chosen,  I  have  sworn 

mutabantur." — (Tacit.  Hist.  lib.  v.  cap.  xiii.)  "  Percrebuerat  Oriente 
i  toto  vetus  et  constans  opinio,  esse  in  fatis,  ut  eo  tempore  Judaea  profecti 
rerum  potirentur.  Id  de  imp-^rio  Romano,  quantum  postea  eventu 
patuit,  prsedictum  Judaei  ad  se  trahentes,  rebellarunt."  Suet,  in  Vesp. 
lib.  viii.  c.  iv.  Julius  Marathus,  quoted  by  Suetonius,  lib.  ii.  c.  xciv. 
Joseph,  de  Bello,  lib.  vi.  c.  xxxi.  (al.  c.  5,  §  4.)  Philo  de  Prsem.  et 
Poen.  pp.  923,  924.     Clarke,  &c.  &c.  '  Isaiah  xi.  1. 


as  THE   PLACE   OF 

unto  David  my  servant,  Thy  seed  wtll  I  establish  for 
ever,  and  build  up  thy  throne  to  all  generations.  Be- 
hold, the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  raise 
unto  David  a  righteous  branch,  and  a  king  shall  rei^ 
and  prosper,  and  shall  execute  judgment  and  justice  in 
the  earth. — This  is  his  name  whereby  he  shall  be  called, 
THE  Lord  our  righteousness."*  The  place  of  the 
birth  of  the  Messiah  is  thus  clearly  foretold : — "  Thou 
Bethlehem  Ephratah,  though  thou  be  little  among  the 
thousands  of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth, 
unto  me,"  or,  as  the  Hebrew  word  implies,*  shall  he  be 
born,  "  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings  forth 
have  been  from  of  old,  f:3m  everlasting."^ — That  all 
these  predictions  were  fulfilled  in  Jesus  Christ ;  that  he 
was  of  that  country,  tribe,  and  family,  of  the  house  and 
lineage  of  David,  and  born  in  Bethlehem, — we  have  the 
fullest  evidence  in  the  testimony  of  all  the  evangelists ; 
in  two  distinct  accounts  of  the  genealogies,  (by  natural 
and  legal  succession,)  which,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  Jews,  were  carefully  preserved  ;  in  the  acquiescence 
of  the  enemies  of  Christ  to  the  truth  of  the  fact,  against 
which  there  is  not  a  single  surmise  in  history ;  and  in 
the  appeal  made  by  some  of  the  earliest  of  the  Christian 
writers  to  the  records  of  the  census,  taken  at  the  very 
time  of  our  Saviour's  birth  by  order  of  Caesar.'*  Here, 
indeed,  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  exact 
fulfilment  of  prophecies  which  are  apparently  contra- 
dictory and  irreconcilable,  and  with  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  providentially  accomplished.  The  spot  of 
Christ's  nativity  was  distant  from  the  place  of  the  abode 
of  his  parents,  and  the  region  in  which  he  began  his 
ministry  was  remote  from  the  place  of  his  birth ;  and 
another  prophecy  respecting  him  was  in  this  manner 
verified : — "  The  land  of  Zebulun  and  the  land  of 
Naphtali, — ^by  the  way  of  the  sea,  beyond  Jordan,  in 
'  2  Sam.  vii.  16;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  3,  4;  Jer.  xxiii.  6,  6. 

2  Gen.  X.  14,  xvii.  6 ;  2  Sam.  vii.  12,  &c. 

3  Micah  V.  2. 

4  Justin  Mart.  Ap.  i.  p.  55,  ed.  Thirl.  Tert.  in  Mar.  iv.  19,  p.  713 
ed.  Paris.     Barrow. 


Christ's  nativity.  29 

Galilee  of  the  nations— the  people  that  walked  in  dark- 
ness have  seen  a  great  Hght ;  they  that  dwell  in  the  land 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath  the  hght  shined."^ 
Thus,  the  time  at  which  the  predicted  Messiah  was  to 
appear,  the  nation,  the  tribe,  and  the  family  from  which 
he  was  to  be  descended — and  the  place  of  his  birth — 
no  populous  city — but  of  itself  an  inconsiderable  place, 
were  all  clearly  foretold ,  and  as  clearly  refer  to  Jesus 
Christ, — and  all  meet  their  completion  in  him. 

But  the  facts  of  his  life,  and  the  features  of  his  cha- 
racter, are  also  drawn  with  a  precision  that  cannot 
be  misunderstood.  The  obscurity,  the  meanness,  and 
poverty  of  his  external  condition  are  thus  represented ; 
— "  he  shall  grow  up  before  the  Lord  as  a  tender  plant, 
and  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground  ;  he  hath  no  form  nor 
comehness ;  and  when  we  shall  see  him,  there  is  no 
beauty  that  we  should  desire  him.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
— to  him  w^hom  man  despiseth,  to  him  whom  the  nation 
abhorreth,  to  a  servant  of  rulers,  kings  shall  see  and 
arise,  princes  also  shall  worship. "^  That  such  was  the 
condition  in  which  Christ  appeared,  the  whole  history 
of  his  life  abundantly  testifies.  And  the  Jews,  looking 
in  the  pride  of  their  hearts  for  an  earthly  king,  disregard- 
ed these  prophecies  concerning  him,  were  deceived  by 
their  traditions,  and  found  only  a  stone  of  stumbling, 
where,  if  they  had  searched  their  Scriptures  aright,  they 
would  have  discovered  an  evidence  of  the  Messiah.  "  Is 
not  this  the  carpenter's  son  ?  is  not  this  the  son  of  Mary  ? 
said  they,  and  they  were  offended  at  him."  His  riding 
in  humble  triumph  into  Jerusalem ;  his  being  betrayed 
for  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  scourged,  and  buffeted, 
and  spit  upon ;  the  piercing  of  his  hands  and  of  his  feet ; 
the  last  offered  draught  of  vinegar  and  gall ;  the  parting 
of  his  raiment,  and  casting  lots  upon  his  vesture ;  the 
manner  of  his  death  and  of  his  burial,  and  his  rising 
again  without  seeing  corruption,^ — were  all  expressly 

'  Isa.  ix.  1,  2  ;  Matt.  iv.  16.  2  isa.  Hii.  2,  xlix.  7. 

3  Zech.  ix.  9,  xi.  12 ;  Isa.  1.  6;  Ps.  xxii.  16,  Ixix.  21,  xxii.  18 
Isa.  liii.  9;  Ps.  xvi.  10. 

3* 


30  THE   LIFE   AND 

predicted,  and  all  these  predictions  were  literally  ful- 
filled. If  all  these  prophecies  admit  of  any  application 
to  tlie  events  of  the  life  of  any  individual,  it  can  only  be 
to  that  of  the  author  of  Christianity.  And  what  other 
religion  can  produce  a  single  fact  which  was  actually 
foretold  of  its  founder  ? 

Though  the  personal  appearance  or  moral  condition 
of  the  Messiah  was  represented  by  the  Jewish  prophets, 
such  as  to  bespeak  no  grandeur,  his  personal  character 
is  described  as  of  a  higher  order  than  that  of  the  sons  of 
men.  "  Righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins, 
and  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his  reins.* — He  hath  done 
no  violence,  neither  was  there  any  deceit  in  his  lips.* 
The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest  upon  him,  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit  of  counsel  and 
might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord.^ 
The  Lord  God  hath  given  me  the  tongue  of  the  learned, 
that  I  should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to 
him  that  is  weary."*  He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shep- 
herd ;  he  shall  gather  the  lambs  w4th  his  arm,  and  carry 
them  in  his  bosom.*  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break, 
and  the  smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench.^  Behold,  thy 
king  cometh  unto  thee ;  he  is  just,  and  having  salvation ; 
lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass.'''  He  shall  not  cry,  nor 
lift  up,  nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street.* 
He  was  oppressed  and  afflicted,  yet  he  opened  not  his 
mouth  ;  he  was  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and 
as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not 
his  moutih.^  I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and  my 
cheeks  to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair ;  I  hid  not  my 
face  from  shame  and  spitting.  *°  The  Lord  God  hath 
opened  mine  ear,  and  I  was  not  rebellious,  neither  turned 
away  back.  The  Lord  God  will  help  me,  therefore  shall  I 
not  be  confounded ;  therefore  have  I  set  my  face  like  a  flint, 
and  I  know  that  I  shall  not  be  ashamed."^*     How  many 


'  Isa.  XI.  5. 

2  Isa.  liii.  9. 

3  Isa.  xi.  2. 

*  Isa.  1. 4. 

5  Isa.  xl.  2. 

6  Isa.  xlii.  3. 

'  Zech.  ix.  9. 

8  Isa.  xlii.  2. 

9  Isa.  liii.  7. 

'<^  Isa.  1. 6. 

>'  Isa.  i.  5,  7. 

CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST.  31 

virtues  are  thus  represented  in  the  prophecies,  as  character- 
istic of  the  Messiah ;  and  how  apphcable  are-  they  all  to 
Christ  alone,  and  how  clearly  imbodied  in  his  character ! 
His  wisdom  and  knowledge — his  speaking  as  never  man 
spake — the  general  meekness  of  his  manner  and  mildness 
of  his  conversation — his  perfect  candour  and  unsullied 
purity — his  righteousness — his  kindness  and  compassion 
— his  genuine  humility — his  peaceable  disposition — his 
unrepining  patience — his  invincible  courage — his  more 
than  heroic  resolution,  and  more  than  human  forbearance 
— his  unfaltering  trust  in  God,  and  complete  resignation 
to  his  will,  are  all  portrayed  in  the  liveliest,  the  most 
affecting,  and  expressive  terms ;  and  among  all  who 
ever  breathed  the  breath  of  life,  they  can  be  applied  to 
Christ  alone. ^ 

Mahomet  pretended  to  receive  a  divine  warrant  to 
sanction  his  past  impurities,  and  to  license  his  future 
crimes.  How  different  is  the  appeal  of  Jesus  to  earth 
and  to  heaven  :  "  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father, 
believe  me  not. — Search  the  Scriptures,  for  these  are 
they  which  testify  of  me."  They  did  testify  of  the 
coming  of  a  Messiah,  and  of  the  superhuman  excellence 
of  his  moral  character.  And  if  the  life  of  Jesus  was 
wonderful  and  unparalleled  of  itself,  how  miraculous 
does  it  appear,  when  all  his  actions  develope  the  prophetic 
character  of  the  promised  Saviour !  The  internal  evi 
dences  are  here  combined  at  once ;  and  while  the  life 
of  Christ  proved  that  he  was  a  righteous  person,  it  proved 
also,  as  testified  of  by  the  prophets,  that  he  was  the  Son 
of  God. 

In  describing  the  blessings  of  the  reign  of  the  Messiah, 
the  prophet  Isaiah  foretold  the  greatness  and  the  benignity 
of  his  miracles : — '^  The  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened, 
and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  be  unstopped :  then  shall 
the  lame  man  leap  as  an  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the 
dumb  sing.  "2  The  history  of  Jesus  shows  how  such 
acts  of  mercy  formed  the  frequent  exercise  of  his  power  * 

'  See  Barrow  on  the  Creed,  p.  19. 
2  Isa.  XXXV.  5,  6. 


32  DEATH  OF  CHRIST. 

at  his  word  the  blind  received  their  sight,  the  lame 
walked,  the  deaf  heard,  and  the  dumb  spake.* 

The  death  of  Christ  was  as  unparalleled  as  his  lifiB: 
and  the  prophecies  are  as  minutely  descriptive  of  his 
sufferings  as  of  his  virtues.  Not  only  did  the  paschal 
lamb,  which  was  to  be  killed  every  year  in  all  the  families 
of  Israel — which  was  to  be  taken  out  of  the  flock,  to  be 
without  blemish— to  be  eaten  witii  bitter  herbs — to  have 
its  blood  sprinkled,  and  to  be  kept  whole  that  not  a  bone 
of  it  should  be  broken ;  not  only  did  the  offering  up  of 
Isaac,  and  the  lifting  up  of  the  brazen  serpent  in  the 
wilderness,  by  lookmg  upon  which  the  people  were 
healed, — and  many  ritual  observances  of  the  Jews, — 
prefigure  the  manner  of  Christ's  death,  and  the  sacrifice 
which  was  to  be  made  for  sin  ;  but  many  express  decla- 
rations abound  in  the  prophecies,  that  Christ  was  indeed 
to  suffer.  Exclusive  of  the  repeated  declarations  in  the 
Psalms,^  of  afflictions  which  apply  literally  to  him,  and 
are  interwoven  with  allusions  to  the  Messiah's  kingdom, 
the  prophet  Daniel,^  in  limiting  the  time  of  his  coming, 
directly  affirms  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be  cut  off";  and 
in  the  same  manifest  allusion,  Zechariah  uses  these  em- 
phatic words  :  "  Awake,  O  sword,  against  my  Shepherd, 
and  against  the  man  that  is  my  fellow,  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts:  smite  the  Shepherd,  and  the  sheep  shall  be 
scattered.  I  will  pour  upon  the  house  of  David,  and 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  the  Spirit  of  grace 
and  of  supplication :  and  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom 
they  have  pierced,  and  they  shall  mourn  for  him."* 

But  Isaiah,  who  describes  with  eloquence  worthy  of  a 
prophet,  the  glories  of  the  kingdom  that  was  to  come, 
characterizes,  with  the  accuracy  of  an  historian,  the 
humiliation,  the  trials,  and  the  agonies  which  were  to 
precede  the  triumphs  of  the  Redeemer  of  a  world ;  and 
the  history  of  Christ  foons,  to  the  very  letter,  the  com- 

'  Matt  ix.  33,  xi.  5. 

2  Ps.  ii.,  xxii.  1,  6,  7,  16,  18,  xxxv.  7,  11,  12,  Ixix.  20,  21,  cix.  2. 
3,  5,  25,  cxviii.  12. 

3  Dan.  ix.  26.  <  Zech.  xiii.  7,  xii.  10. 


DEATH  OF  CHRIST.  33 

mentary  and  the  completion  of  his  every  prediction.  In 
a  single  passage,' — the  connection  of  which  is  uninter- 
rupted, its  antiquity  indisputable,  and  its  application 
obvious, — the  sufferings  of  the  servant  of  God,  (who, 
under  the  same  denomination,  is  previously  described  as 
he  who  was  to  be  the  light  of  the  Gentiles,  the  salvation 
of  God  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  the  elect  of  God,  in 
whom  his  soul  delighted,^)  are  so  minutely  foretold,  that 
no  illustration  is  requisite  to  show  that  they  testify  of 
Jesus.  Of  the  multitude  of  parallel  passages  in  the  New 
Testament,  a  few  of  the  most  obvious  may  be  here  sub- 
joined to  the  prophecy. 

He  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men.  *'  He  came  unto 
his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not ;  he  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head  ;  they  derided  him."  Ji  man  of 
sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief.  Jesus  wept  at  the 
grave  of  Lazarus  ;  he  mourned  over  Jerusalem  ;  he  felt 
the  ingratitude  and  the  cruelty  of  men  ;  he  bore  the  con- 
tradiction of  sinners  against  himself:  and  these  are  ex- 
pressions of  sorrow  which  were  peculiarly  his  own, 
"  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me  ;  but 
for  this  end  came  I  into  the  world.  My  God !  my  God ! 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"  We  hid,  as  it  were,  our 
faces  from  him,  he  was  despised,  and  we  esteemed  him 
not.  "  All  his  disciples  forsook  him  and  fled.  Not  this 
man,  but  Barabbas :  now  Barabbas  was  a  robber.  The 
soldiers  mocked  him,  and  bowed  the  knee  before  him  in 
derision."  The  catalogue  of  his  sufferings  is  continued 
in  the  words  of  the  prophecy:  We  did  esteem  him 
stricken,  smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted.  He  was  wounded, 
he  was  oppressed,  he  was  afflicted,  he  was  brought  as  a 
lamb  to  the  slaughter.  He  was  taken  away  by  distress 
and  by  judgment.  And  to  this  general  description  is 
united  the  detail  of  minuter  incidents,  which  fixes  the 
fact  of  their  application  to  Jesus.  He  was  cut  off  out  of 
the  land  of  the  living.  He  was  crucified  in  the  flower 
of  his  age.     He  made  his  grave  (or  his  grave  was  ap- 

'  Isa.  lii.  13 — 15,  and  chap.  iii. 
2  Isa.  xlii.  1,  xlix.  6. 


34 


DEATH  OF  CHRIST. 


pointed)  with  the  wicked;  and  with  the  rich  in  his  death. 
His  grave  was  doubtless  appointed  with  the  wicked,  or 
the  two  thieves  with  whom  he  was  crucified,  but  Joseph 
of  Arimathea,  a  rich  man,  went  and  begged  the  body 
of  Jesus,  and  laid  it  in  his  own  new  tomb.  He  was 
numbered  among  the  transgressors.  Barabbas  was  pre- 
ferred before  him.  He  was  crucified  between  two 
thieves ;  and  the  Jews  said  unto  Pilate,  "If  he  were 
not  a  malefactor,  we  would  not  have  delivered  him  up 
unto  thee.''  His  visage  wa^  so  marred,  more  than  any 
man,  and  his  form  more  than  the  sons  of  men.  Without 
any  direct  allusion  made  to  it,  but  in  literal  fulfilment  of 
the  prophecy — the  bloody  sweat,  the  traces  of  the  crown 
of  thorns,  his  having  been  spitted  on,  and  smitten  on 
the  head,  disfigured  his  face ; — while  the  scourge,  the 
nails  in  his  hands  and  in  his  feet,  and  the  spear  that 
pierced  his  side,  marred  the  form  of  Jesus  more  than 
that  of  the  sons  of  men. 

That  this  circumstantial  and  continuous  description 
of  the  Messiah's  sufferings  might  not  admit  of  any  ambi- 
guity, the  dignity  of  his  person,  the  incredulity  of  the 
Jews,  the  innocence  of  the  sufferer,  the  cause  of  his 
sufferings,  and  his  consequent  exaltation,  are  all  parti- 
cularly marked,  and  are  equally  applicable  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  gospel.  He  shall  be  exalted  and  extolled, 
and  be  very  high.  Who  hath  believed  our  report  ?  and  to 
whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed  ?  For  he  shall  grow 
up  as  a  tender  plant,  &c.  The  mean  external  condition 
of  Christ  is  here  assigned  as  the  reason  of  the  unbelief 
of  the  Jews,  and  it  was  the  very  reason  which  they 
themselves  assigned.  The  prediction  points  out  the 
procuring  cause  of  his  sufferings.  He  hath  borne  our 
griefs,  and  carried  our  sorrows.  "  Christ  was  once 
offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many."  He  was  wounded  for 
our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities,  the 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  and  with  his 
stripes  we  are  healed.  "  His  own  self  Taare  our  sins  in 
his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that  we,  being  dead  unto  sin, 
should  live  unto  righteousness ;  by  whose  stripes  we  are 


DEATH   OF    CHRIST.  35 

healed."  All  we,  like  sheep,  have  gone  astray  ;  we  have 
turned  every  one  to  his  own  icay  ;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid 
on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  "  All  flesh  have  sinned, 
ye  were  as  sheep  going  astray,  but  ye  are  now  returned 
unto  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  your  souls."  He  hath 
done  no  violence ;  neither  was  tJiere  any  deceit  in  his 
mouth  :  Thou  shall  make  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin, 
"  God  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin." 

The  whole  of  this  prophecy  thus  refers  to  the  Messiah 
It  describes  both  his  debasement  and  his  dignity — his 
rejection  by  the  Jew^s — his  humihty,  his  affliction,  and 
his  agony — his  magnanimity  and  his  charity — how  his 
words  were  disbelieved — how  his  state  was  lowly — 
how  his  sorrow  was  severe — how  he  t>pened  not  his 
mouth  but  to  make  intercession  for  the  transgressors.  In 
diametrical  opposition  to  every  dispensation  of  Provi- 
dence which  is  registered  in  the  records  of  the  Jews,  it 
represents  spotless  innocence  suffering  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  Heaven,  death  as  the  issue  of  perfect  obedience, 
his  righteous  servant  as  forsaken  of  God,  and  one  who 
was  perfectly  immaculate,  bearing  the  chastisement  of 
many  guilty, — sprinkling  many  nations  from  their  ini- 
quity, by  virtue  of  his  sacrifice, — ^justifying  many  by  his 
knowledge,  and  dividing  a  portion  with  the  great,  and 
the  spoil  with  the  strong,  because  he  hath  poured  out 
his  soul  in  death.  This  prophecy,  therefore,  simply  as  a 
prediction  prior  to  the  event,  renders  the  very  unbelief 
of  the  Jews  an  evidence  against  them,  converts  the 
scandal  of  the  cross  into  an  argument  in  favour  of 
Christianity,  and  presents  us  with  an  epitome  of  the 
truth,  a  miniature  of  the  gospel  in  some  of  its  most 
striking  features.  The  simple  exposition  of  it  sufficed 
at  once  for  the  conversion  of  the  eunuch  of  Ethiopia ; 
and,  without  the  aid  of  an  apostle,  it  can  boast  in  more 
modem  times  of  a  nobler  trophy  of  its  truth,  in  a  vic- 
tory which  it  was  mainly  instrumental  in  obtaining  and 
securing,  over  the  strongly-riveted  prejudices  and  long- 
tried  infidelity  of  a  man  of  genius  and  of  rank,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  abandoned,  insidious,  and  successful  of 


36  NATURE  OF  THE 

the  advocates  of  impurity,  and  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Christian  faith.* 

Thus  it  is  written,  and  thus  it  behoved  Christ  to  suf- 
fer, according  to  the  Scriptures ;  and  thus  the  apostle 
testifies  :  "  Those  things  which  God  had  showed  by  the 
mouth  of  all  the  prophets,  that  Christ  should  suffer,  he 
hath  so  fulfilled." 

That  the  Jews  still  retain  these  prophecies,  and  are 
the  means  of  preserving  them,  and  communicating  them 
throughout  the  world,  while  they  bear  so  strongly 
against  themselves,  and  testify  so  clearly  of  a  Saviour 
that  was  first  to  suffer,  and  then  to  be  exalted, — are  facts 
as  indubitable  as  they  are  unaccountable,  and  give  a 
confirmation  to  .the  truth  of  Christianity,  than  which  it 
is  difficult  to  conceive  any  stronger.  The  prophecies, 
as  we  have  seen  by  a  simple  enumeration  of  a  few  of 
them  that  testify  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Messiah,  need 
no  forced  interpretation,  but  apply  in  the  plainest,  sim- 
plest, and  most  literal  manner,  to  the  history  of  the  suf- 
ferings and  of  the  death  of  Christ.  In  the  testimony  of 
the  Jews  to  the  existence  of  these  prophecies  long  prior 
to  the  Christian  era ;  in  their  remaining  unaltered  to  this 
hour ;  in  the  accounts  given  by  the  evemgelists,  of  the 
life  and  death  of  Christ ;  in  the  testimony  of  heathen 
authors^  which  has  been  frequently  quoted,  but  never 
refuted ;  and  in  the  arguments  of  the  first  opposers  of 
Christianity,  from  the  mean  condition  of  its  author,  and 
the  manner  of  his  death  ;  we  have  now  greater  evidence 
of  the  fulfilment  of  all  these  prophecies,  than  could  have 
been  conceived  possible  at  so  great  a  distance  of  time. 

But  the  prophecies  farther  present  us  with  the  cha- 
racter of  the  gospel  as  well  as  of  its  author,  and  with  a 
description  of  the  extent  of  his  kingdom  as  well  as  of 
his  sufferings.  It  was  prophesied  that  the  Messiah  "was 
to  reveal  the  will  of  God  to  man,  and  establish  a  new 

'  Burnet's  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Rochester,  pp.  70,  71. 
.    2  «<  Auctor  nominis  ejus    Christus,  Tiberio  imperitante,  per 
prccuratorem  Pentium  Pilatum  supplicio  adfectus  erat." — (Tacit. 
Annal.  lib.  xv.  cap.  xliv.) 


CHRISTIAN   RELIGION.  37 

and  perfect  religion : — "  I  will  raise  them  up  a  prophet, 
— and  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth,  and  he  shall 
speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him ;  and  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  whosoever  will  not  hearken  unto 
my  words  which  he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  I  will  re- 
quire it  of  him.  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son 
is  given  ;  and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder ; 
and  his  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the 
Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  Of  the  increase  of  his  government  and  peace 
there  shall  be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and 
upon  his  kingdom,  to  order  it,  and  to  establish  it  with 
judgment  and  with  justice  from  henceforth,  even  for- 
ever. The  zeal  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  will  perform  this. 
There  shall  come  forth  a  rod  out  of  the  stem  of  Jesse  ; — 
he  shall  not  judge  after  the  sight  of  his  eyes,  neither 
reprove  after  the  hearing  of  his  ears ;  but  with  righteous- 
ness shall  he  judge  the  poor,  and  reprove  with  equity.  I 
the  Lord  have  called  thee  in  righteousness,  and  will 
hold  thine  hand,  and  will  keep  thee,  and  give  thee  for  a 
covenant  of  the  people,  for  a  light  of  the  Gentiles,  to 
open  the  blind  eyes.  Incline  your  ear  and  come  unto 
me  ;  hear,  and  your  soul  shall  live  ;  and  I  will  make  an 
everlasting  covenant  with  you,  even  the  sure  mercies  of 
David.  Behold,  I  have  given  him  for  a  witness  to  the 
people,  a  leader  and  commander  to  the  people.  I  will 
set  up  one  shepherd  over  them,  and  he  shall  feed  them ; 
and  I  w411  make  with  them  a  covenant  of  peace,  and  it 
shall  be  an  everlasting  covenant ;  and  I  will  set  my 
sanctuary  in  the  midst  of  them  :  one  king  shall  be  king 
to  them  all ;  neither  shall  they  defile  themselves  any 
more  with  their  idols.  They  shall  have  one  shepherd. 
They  shall  also  walk  in  my  judgments,  and  my  servant 
David  shall  be  their  prince  forever.  Behold,  the  days 
come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a  new  covenant ; 
— and  this  shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with 
the  house  of  Israel ;  After  these  days,  I  will  put  my  law 
in  their  inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts  ;  and 
will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people  :  and 
4 


38  NATURE  OF  THE 

they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbour,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord  ;  for  they 
shall  all  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the 
^eatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord ;  for  I  will  forgive  their 
iniquity,  and  I  will  remember  their  sin  no  more."*  A 
future  and  perfect  revelation  of  the  divine  will  is  thus 
explicitly  foretold.  That  these  promised  blessings  were 
to  extend  beyond  the  confines  of  Judea,  is  expressly 
and  frequently  predicted  : — "  It  fs  a  Hght  thing  that  thou 
shouldst  be  my  servant,  to  raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob, 
and  to  restore  the  preserved  of  Israel ;  I  will  also  give 
thee  for  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my 
salvation  unto  the  end  of  the  earth. ^ 

While  many  of  the  prophecies  which  are  descriptive 
of  the  glories  of  the  reign  of  the  Messiah,  refer  to  its 
universal  extension,  and  to  the  final  restoration  of  the 
Jews,  they  detail  and  define,  at  the  same  time,  the  na- 
ture and  the  blessings  of  the  gospel ;  and  no  better 
description  or  definition  could  now  be  given  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  and  of  the  conditions  which  he  hath 
proposed  for  the  acceptance  of  man,  than  those  very 
prophecies  which  were  delivered  many  hundreds  of 
years  before  he  appeared  in  the  world.  The  gospel,  as 
the  name  itself  signifies,  denotes  glad  tidings.  Christ 
himself  invited  those  who  were  weary  and  heavy  laden 
to  come  unto  him,  that  they  might  find  rest  unto  their 
souls.  He  was  the  messenger  of  peace.  He  came,  as 
he  professed,  to  offer  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world, 
and  to  reveal  the  will  of  God  to  man.  He  published 
the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  His  word  is  still  that 
of  reconciliation,  his  law  that  of  love ;  and  all  the  duty 
he  has  prescribed  tends  to  qualify  man  for  spiritual  and 
eternal  felicity,  for  this  is  the  sum  and  the  object  of  it 
all.  What  more  could  have  been  given,  and  what  less 
could  have  been  required  ?  In  similar  terms  do  the 
prophecies  of  old  describe  the  new  law  that  was  to  be 

1  Deut.  xviii.  18,  19;  Isa.  iy.  6,  7,  xi.  1,  3,  4,  xlii.  6,  Iv.  3,4; 
Ezek.  xxxiv.  23,  25,  xxxviL  22—26;  Jer.  xxxi.31,  33,  34. 
"  Isa.  xlix.  6,  Ivi.  6—8. 


CHRISTIAN  RELIGION.  39 

revealed,  and  the  advent  of  the  Saviour  that  was  to 
come  : — "  Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion :  shout, 
O  daughter  of  Jerusalem  ;  behold,  thy  king  cometh  unto 
thee.  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet 
of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings  of  good,  that  publish- 
eth  salvation/  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me, 
because  the  Lord  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good 
tidings  unto  the  meek  :  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the 
broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  to 
proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."^  Having 
read  these  words  out  of  the  law,  in  the  synagogue,  Jesus 
said,  "  This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled."  He  was  a 
teacher  of  righteousness  and  of  peace,  and  in  him  alone 
it  could  have  been  fulfilled.  The  same  character  of 
joy,  indicative  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  is  also 
given  by  different  prophets.  He  was  to  finish  transgres- 
sion, to  make  an  end  of  sins,  and  to  make  reconciliation 
fof  iniquity ;  to  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  the  people  of 
God,  to  sprinkle  many  nations,  to  save  them  from  their 
uncleanness,  and  to  open  a  fountain  for  sin  and  for  un- 
cleanness.  "  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  ways,  and  the 
unrighteous  man  his  thoughts  ;  and  let  him  return  unto 
the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him.  I  will 
forgive  their  iniquity,  and  remember  their  sins  no  more. 
The  Messiah  was  to  be  anointed  to  comfort  all  that 
mourn,  to  appoint  unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give 
unto  them  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning, 
and  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.^ 
And  in  the  gospel  of  peace  these  promised  blessings  are 
realized.  We  now  see  what  many  prophets  and  wise 
men  did  desire  in  vain  to  see.  The  Christian  religion 
has  indeed  been  sadly  perverted  and  corrupted,  and  its 
corruptions  are  the  subjects  of  prophecy.  Bigotry  has 
often  tarnished  and  obscured  all  its  benignity.  Its  lovely 
form  has  been  shrouded  in  a  mask  of  superstition,  of 
tyranny,  and  of  murder.  But  the  religion  of  Jesus,  pure 
from  the  lips  of  its  author  and  the  pen  of  his  aposdes,  is 

'  Isa.  Hi.  7.  2  isa.lxi.  1. 

3  Dan.  ix.  24 ;  Isa.  Iv.  7  ;  Jer.  xxxi.  34  ;  Isa.  Ixi.  1— .3. 


40  PROPAGATION  AND  EXTENT 

calculated  to  diffuse  universal  happiness;  tends  effect- 
ually to  promote  the  moral  culture  and  the  civilization 
of  humanity  ;  ameliorates  the  condition  and  perfects  the 
nature  of  man.  It  is  a  doctrine  of  righteousness,  a  per- 
fect rule  of  duty :  it  abolishes  idolatry,  and  teaches  all 
to  worship  God  only :  it  is  full  of  promises  to  all  who 
obey  it :  it  reveals  the  method  of  reconciliation  for  ini- 
quity, and  imparts  the  means  lo  obtain  it :  it  is  good 
tidings  to  the  meek :  it  binds  up  the  broken-hearted, 
and  presents  to  us  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness,  or  the  most 
perfect  system  of  consolation,  under  all  the  evils  of  life, 
that  can  be  conceived  by  man.  For  the  confirmation  of 
all  these  prophecies  concerning  it,  we  stand  not  in  need 
of  Jewish  testimony,  or  that  of  the  primitive  Christians, 
or  of  any  testimony  whatever.  It  is  a  matter  of  expe- 
rience and  of  fact.  The  doctrine  of  the  gospel  is  in 
complete  accordance  with  the  predictions  respecting  it. 
When  we  compare  it  with  any  impure,  degrading,  vi- 
cious, and  cruel  system  of  religion  that  existed  in  the 
world  when  these  prophecies  were  delivered,  its  supe- 
riority must  be  apparent,  and  its  unrivalled  excellence 
must  be  acknowledged.  Deities  were  then  worshipped 
whose  vices  disgraced  human  nature  ;  and  even  impiety 
could  not  institute  a  comparison  between  them  and  the 
God  of  Christians.  Idolatry  was  universally  prevalent, 
and  men  knew  not  a  higher  honour  than  the  humiliation 
of  bowing  down  in  adoration  to  stocks  and  stones,  and 
sometimes  even  to  the  beasts.  Sacrifices  were  every- 
where offered  up,  and  human  victims  often  bled,  when 
the  doctrine  of  reconciliation  for  iniquity  was  unknown. 
And  we  have  only  to  look  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
Christianity, — to  Ashantee,  or  to  India,  or  to  China, — 
to  behold  the  most  revolting  of  spectacles  in  the  religious 
rites  and  practices  of  man.  Regarding  the  superiority 
of  the  Christian  religion  only  as  a  subject  of  prophecy, 
the  assent  can  hardly  be  withheld,  that  the  prophecies 
concerning  its  excellence,  and  the  blessings  which  it  im- 


OF   CHRISTIANITY.  41 

parts,  have  been  amply  verified  by  the  peace-speaking 
gospel  of  Jesus. 

But,  in  ascertaining  the  accomplishment  of  ancient 
predictions,  in  evidence  of  the  truth,  the  unbeliever  is 
not  solicited  to  relinquish  one  iota  of  his  skepticism  in 
any  matter  that  can  possibly  admit  of  a  reasonable  doubt. 
For  there  are  many  prophecies,  of  the  truth  of  which 
every  Christian  is  a  witness,  and  to  the  fulfilment  of 
which  the  testimony  even  of  infidels  must  be  borne. 
-That  the  gospel  emanated  from  Jerusalem ;  that  it  was 
rejected  by  a  great  proportion  of  the  Jews ;  that  it  was 
opposed  at  first  by  human  power ;  that  idolatry  has  been 
overthrown  before  it ;  that  kings  have  become  subject 
to  it  and  supported  it ;  that  it  has  already  continued  for 
many  ages,  and  that  it  has  been  propagated  throughout 
many  countries,  are  facts  clearly  foretold  and  literally 
fulfilled.  "  Out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and  the 
word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem ;  and  he  shall  judge 
among  the  nations.*  He  shall  be  for  a  sanctuary ;  but 
for  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  for  a  rock  of  oflfence,  to 
both  the  houses  of  Israel ;  for  a  gin  and  a  snare  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  The  kings  of  the  earth  set 
themselves,  and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together,  against 
the  Lord,  and  against  his  Anointed. "^  In  like  manner, 
Christ  frequently  foretold  the  persecution  that  awaited 
his  followers,  and  the  final  success  of  the  gospel,  in 
defiance  of  all  opposition.^  "  The  Lord  alone  shall  be 
exalted  in  that  day,  and  the  idols  he  shall  utterly  abolish ; 
— from  all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you  ; — I  will  cut  off 
the  names  of  the  idols  out  of  the  land,  and  they  shall  no 
more  be  remembered.'*  To  a  servant  of  rulers,  kings 
shall  see  and  arise,  princes  also  shall  worship.  The 
gentiles  shall  come  to  thy  light,  and  kings  to  the  bright- 
ness of  thy  rising.  Kings  shall  be  thy  nursing  fathers, 
and  their  queens   thy  nursing  mothers.^     The  gentiles 

'  Isa.  ii.  3,  4 ;  Micah  iv.  2.  2  jga.  viii.  14 ;  Ps.  ii.  2. 

3  Matt.  X.  17,  xvi.  18,  xxiv.  14,  xxviii.  19. 

•*  Isa.  ii.  17, 18  ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25  ;  Zech.  xiii.  2. 

*  Isa.  xlix.  7,  23,  Ix.  3. 

4* 


42  PROPAGATION  AND  EXTENT 

shall  see  thy  righteousness : — a  people  that  knew  me  not 
shall  be  called  after  my  name.  In  that  day  there 
shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse,  which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign 
of  tlie  people ;  to  it  shall  the  gentiles  seek.  I  will  make 
an  everlasting  covenant  with  you.  Behold,  thou  shalt 
call  a  nation  that  thou  knowest  not ;  and  nations  that 
knew  not  thee  shall  run  unto  thee."^ 

At  die  time  the  prophecies  were  delivered,  there  was 
not  a  vestige  in  the  world  of  that  spiritual  kingdom  and 
pure  religion  which  they  unequivocally  represent  as 
extending  in  succeeding  ages,  not  only  throughout  the 
narrow  bounds  of  the  land  of  Judea,  and  those  countries 
which  alone  the  prophets  knew,  but  over  the  gentile 
nations  also,  even  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth. 
None  are  now  ignorant  of  the  facts,  that  a  system  of 
religion  which  inculcates  piety,  and  purity,  and  love, — 
which  releases  man  from  every  burdensome  rite  and 
every  barbarous  institution,  and  proffers  the  greatest  of 
blessings, — arose  from  the  land  of  Judea,  from  among 
a  people  who  are  proverbially  the  most  selfish  and 
worldly  minded  of  any  nation  upon  earth ; — that, 
though  persecuted  at  first,  and  rejected  by  the  Jews,  it 
has  spread  throughout  many  nations,  and  extended  to 
those  who  were  far  distant  from  the  scene  of  its  origin ; 
and  that  it  freely  invites  all  to  partake  of  its  privileges, 
and  makes  no  distinction  between  barbarian,  Scythian, 
bond  or  free.  A  Latin  poet,  who  lived  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Christian  era,  speaks  of  the  barbarous 
Britons  as  almost  divided  from  the  whole  world ;  and 
yet,  although  far  more  distant  from  the  land  of  Judea  than 
from  Rome,  the  law  which  hath  come  out  from  Jerusa- 
lem hath  taken,  by  its  influence,  the  name  of  barbarous 
from  Britain :  and  in  "our  distant  isle  of  the  gentiles" 
are  the  prophecies  fulfilled,  that  the  kingdom  of  the 
Messiah,  or  knowledge  of  the  gospel,  would  extend  to 
^he  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.  And  in  the  present  day, 
we  can  look  from  one  distant  isle  of  the  gentiles  to 
another, — from  the  northern  to  the  southern  ocean,  or 
'  Isa.  Ixii.  2,  xi.  10,  Iv.  3,  5. 


OF   CHRISTIANITY.  43 

from  one  extremity  of  the  globe  to  another, — and  behold 
the  extinction  of  idolatry,  and  the  abolition  of  every 
barbarous  and  cruel  rite,  by  the  humanizing  influence  of 
the  gospel.  But  it  was  at  a  time  when  no  dir-ne  light 
dawned  upon  the  world,  save  obscurely  on  the  land  of 
Judea  alone ;  when  all  the  surrounding  nations,  in  re- 
spect to  religious  knowledge,  were  involved  in  thick 
darkness,  gross  superstition,  and  blind  idolatry;  when 
men  made  unto  themselves  gods  of  corruptible  things ; 
when  those  mortals  were  deified,  after  their  death,  who 
had  been  subject  to  the  greatest  vices,  and  who  had 
been  the  oppressors  of  their  fellow-men ;  when  the  most 
shocking  rites  were  practised  as  acts  of  religion ;  when 
the  most  enlightened  among  the  nations  of  the  earth 
erected  an  altar  to  the  "  unknown  God,"  and  set  no 
limit  to  the  number  of  their  deities  ;  when  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  heathen  philosophers,  and  the  best  of  their 
moralists,  despairing  of  the  clear  discovery  of  the  truth 
by  human  means,  could  merely  express  a  wish  for  a 
divine  revelation,  as  the  only  safe  and  certain  guide  ;* 
when  slaves  were  far  more  numerous  than  freemen,  even 
where  liberty  prevailed  the  most ;  and  when  there  was 
no  earthly  hope  of  redemption  from  temporal  bondage  or 
spiritual  slavery ; — even  at  such  a  time  the  voice  of 
prophecy  was  uphfted  in  the  land  of  Judea,  and  it  spoke 
of  a  brighter  day  that  was  to  dawn  upon  the  world.  It 
was  indeed  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place.  And  from 
whence  could  that  hght  have  emanated  but  from  heaven? 
A  Messiah  was  promised,  a  Prince  of  peace  was  to  ap- 
pear, a  stone  was  to  be  cut  without  hands,  that  should 
break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  other  kingdoms.  And 
the  spiritual  reign  of  a  Saviour  is  foretold  in  terms  that 
define  its  duration  and  extent,  as  well  as  describe  its 
nature : — "  I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now  ;  I  shall  behold 
him,  but  not  nigh. — His  name  shall  endure  forever  ;  his 
name  shall  be  continued  as  long  as  the  sun  ;  and  men 
shall  be  blessed  in  him:  all  nations  shall  call  him 
blessed.  He  shall  have  dominion  from  sea  to  sea ;  and 
'  Plato  in  Phaedone  et  in  Alcibiade  ii. 


44  PROPAGATION  AND  EXTENT 

from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Ask  of  me, 
and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance, 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession. 
All  the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remember  and  turn  unto 
the  Lord  ;  and  all  the  kindreds  of  the  nations  shall  wor 
ship  before  thee.*  I  will  give  thee  for  a  light  to  the 
gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end 
of  the  earth.  The  glory  of  thfe  Lord  shall  be  revealed  ; 
and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together ;  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  it.^  The  Lord  hath  made  bare  his 
holy  arm  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  nations.  He  shall  not 
fail  nor  be  discouraged,  till  he  have  set  judgment  in  the 
earth ;  and  the  isles  shall  wait  for  his  law.*"*  He  will 
destroy  in  this  mountain  the  face  of  the  covering  cast  over 
all  people,  and  the  veil  that  is  spread  over  all  nations."* 
I  am  sought  of  them  that  asked  not  for  me  ;  I  am  found 
of  them  that  sought  me  not ;  I  said,  Behold  me,  behold 
me,  unto  a  nation  that  was  not  called  by  my  name.* 
'^  It  shall  come  to  pass,  in  the  last  days,"  say  both 
Isaiah  and  Micah  in  the  same  words,  "  that  the  moun- 
tain of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  established  in  the  top 
of  the  mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills, 
and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it.^  In  the  place  where 
it  was  said  unto  them.  Ye  are  not  my  people,  there  it 
shall  be  said  unto  them,  Ye  are  the  sons  of  the  living 
God.^  The  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  converted 
unto  thee ;  the  forces  of  the  gentiles  shall  come  unto 
thee.^  Sing,  0  barren,  thou  that  didst  not  bear ;  break 
forth  into  singing,  and  cry  aloud :  for  more  are  the 
children  of  the  desolate  than  the  children  of  the  married 
wife  (more  gentiles  than  Jews.)  Enlarge  the  place  of 
thy  tent,  and  let  them  stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  thine 
habitations :  spare  not,  lengthen  thy  cords ;  for  thou 
shalt  break  forth  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  and 
thy  seed   shall  inherit  the  gentiles:   for  thy  Maker  is 

'  Num.  xxiv.  17 ;  Ps.  Ixxii.  17,  8,  ii.  8,  xxii.  27. 

2  Isa.  xlix.  6,  xl.  5.  3  Isa.  lii.  10,  xlii.  4.  *  Isa.  xxv.  7. 

^  Isa.  Ixv.  1.  6  Isa.  ii.  2 ;  Micah  iv.  1. 

'  Hosea  i.  10.  a  isa.  ix.  5. 


OF  CHRISTIANITY.  45 

thine  husband  :  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name ;  the  God 
of  the  whole  earth  shall  he  be  called.*  The  wilderness 
and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad ;  and  the  desert  shall 
rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the  rose.^ 

These  prophecies  all  refer  to  the  extent  of  the  Mes- 
siah's kingdom ;  and  clear  and  copious  though  they  be, 
they  form  but  a  small  number  of  the  predictions  of  the 
same  auspicious  import : — and  we  have  not  merely  to 
consider  what  part  of  them  may  yet  remain  to  be  fulfilled, 
but  how  much  has  already  been  accomplished,  of  which 
no  surmise  could  have  been  formed,  and  of  which  all 
the  wisdom  of  short-sighted  mortals  could  not  have  war- 
ranted a  thought.  All  of  them  were  delivered  many 
ages  before  the  existence  of  that  religion  whose  progress 
they  minutely  describe ;  and,  when  we  compare  the 
present  state  of  any  country  where  the  gospel  is  pro- 
fessed in  its  purity,  with  its  state  at  that  period  when 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  began  to  rise  upon  it,  we  see 
light  pervading  the  regions  of  darkness,  and  ignorance 
and  barbarism  yielding  to  knowledge  and  moral  culti- 
vation. In  opposition  to  all  human  probability,  and  to 
human  wisdom  and  power,  the  gospel  of  Jesus,  propa- 
gated at  first  by  a  few  fishermen  of  Galilee,  has  razed 
every  heathen  temple  from  its  foundation,  has  over- 
thrown before  it  every  impure  altar,  has  displaced,  from 
every  palace  and  every  cottage  which  it  has  reached, 
the  worship  of  every  false  god ;  the  whole  civilized 
world  acknowledges  its  authority ;  it  has  prevailed  from 
the  first  to  the  last  in  defiance  of  persecution,  of  opposi- 
tion the  most  powerful  and  violent,  of  the  direct  attacks 
of  avowed,  and  the  insidious  designs  of  disguised  ene- 
mies ; — and  combating,  as  it  ever  has  been  combating,, 
with  all  the  evil  passions  of  men  that  impel  them  to 
resist  or  pervert  it,  the  lapse  of  eighteen  centuries  con- 
firms every  ancient  prediction,  and  verifies,  to  this  hour, 
the  declaration  of  its  author, — "  the  gates  of  hell  shal) 
not  prevail  against  it."  How  is  it  possible  that  it  could 
have  been  conceived  that  such  a  religion  would  hav* 
1  Isa.  liv.  1—3,  5.  2  isa.  xxxv.  1 


46  PROPAGATION  AND  EXTENT 

been  characterized  in  all  its  parts — would  have  been 
instituted — opposed — established — propagated  through- 
out tlie  world — embraced  by  so  many  nations — pro- 
tected at  last  by  princes  and  kings — and  received  as 
the  rule  of  faith  and  the  will  of  God  ?  How  could  all 
tliese  things,  and  many  more  respecting  it,  have  been 
foretold,  as  they  unquestionably  were,  many  centuries 
before  the  author  of  Christianity  appeared,  if  these  pro- 
phecies be  not  an  attestation  from  on  high  that  every 
prediction  and  its  completion  is  the  work  of  God  and 
not  of  man  ?  What  uninspired  mortal  could  have  de- 
scribed the  nature,  the  effect,  and  the  progress  of  the 
Christian  religion,  when  none  could  have  entertained  an 
idea  of  its  existence  ?  for  paganism  consisted  in  external 
rites  and  cruel  sacrifices,  and  in  pretended  mysteries. 
Its  toleration,  indeed,  has  been  commended,  and  not 
undeservedly ;  for  in  reUgion  it  tolerated  whatever  was 
absurd  and  impious,  in  morals  it  tolerated  all  that  was 
impure,  and  almost  all  that  was  vicious.  But  the  Jewish 
prophets,  when  the  world  was  in  darkness,  and  could 
supply  no  light  to  lead  them  to  such  knowledge,  pre- 
dicted the  rise  of  a  religion  which  could  boast  of  no  such 
toleration,  but  which  was  to  reveal  the  will  and  incul- 
cate the  worship  of  the  one  living  and  true  God ;  which 
was  to  consist  in  moral  obedience,  to  enjoin  reformation 
of  life  and  purity  of  heart,  to  abolish  all  sacrifice  by 
revealing  a  better  means  of  reconciliation  for  iniquity, 
to  be  understood  by  all  from  the  simplicity  of  its  pre- 
cepts, and  to  tolerate  no  manner  of  evil ;  a  religion  in 
every  respect  the  reverse  of  paganism,  and  of  which 
they  could  not  have  been  furnished  with  any  semblance 
upon  earth.  They  saw  nothing  among  the  surrounding 
nations  but  the  worship  of  a  multiplicity  of  deities  and 
of  idols :  if  they  had  traversed  the  whole  world,  they 
would  have  witnessed  only  the  same  spiritual  degrada- 
tion, and  yet  they  predicted  the  final  abolition  and  ex- 
tinction both  of  polytheism  and  of  idolatry.  The  Jewish 
dispensation  was  local,  and  Jews  prophesied  of  a  reli- 
gion beginning  fi-om  Jerusalem,  which  was  to  extend  to 


OF   CHRISTIANITY.  47 

the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  So  utterly  unUkely  and 
incredible  were  the  prophecies  either  to  have  been  fore- 
told by  human  wisdom,  or  to  have  been  fulfilled  by 
human  power ;  and  when  both  these  wonders  are  united, 
they  convey  an  assurance  of  the  truth.  As  a  matter  of 
history,  the  progress  of  Christianity  is  at  least  astonish- 
ing ;  as  the  fulfilment  of  many  prophecies,  it  is  evidently 
miraculous.* 

The  prophesied  success  and  extension  of  the  gospel 
is  not  less  obvious  in  the  New  Testament  than  in  the 
Old.  A  single  instance  may  suffice: — "I  saw  another 
angel  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  having  the  everlasting 
gospel  to  preach  unto  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  and 
to  every  nation,  and  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people." 
These  are  the  words  of  a  banished  man,  secluded  in  a 
small  island  from  which  he  could  not  remove ;  a  be 
liever  in  a  new  religion  everywhere  spoken  against  and 
persecuted.  They  were  uttered  at  a  time  when  their 
truth  could  not  possibly  have  been  realized  to  the  de- 
gree which  it  actually  is  at  present,  even  if  all  human 
power  had  been  combined  for  extending,  instead  of 
extinguishing  the  gospel.  The  diffusion  of  knowledge 
was  then  extremely  difficult ;  the  art  of  printing  was 
then  unknown ;  and  many  countries  which  the  gospel 
has  now  reached  were  then  undiscovered.  And,  multi- 
plied as  books  now  are,  more  than  at  any  former  period 
of  the  history  of  man, — extensive  as  the  range  of  com- 
merce is,  beyond  what  Tyre,  or  Carthage,  or  Rome 
could  have  ever  boasted, — the  dissemination  of  the 
Scriptures  surpasses  both  the  one  and  the  other :   they 

1  Were  it  even  to  be  conceded,  as  it  never  will  in  reason  be, 
that  the  causes  assigned  by  Gibbon  for  the  rapid  extension  of 
Christianity  were  adequate  and  true,  one  difficulty,  great  as  it  is, 
would  only  be  removed  for  the  substitution  of  a  greater.  For 
what  human  ingenuity,  though  gifted  with  the  utmost  reach  of 
discrimination,  can  ever  attempt  the  solution  of  the  question,  how 
were  all  these  occult  causes,  (for  hidden  they  must  then  have 
been,)  which  the  genius  of  Gibbon  first  discovered,  foreseen,  their 
combination  known,  and  all  their  wonderful  effects  distinctly  de. 
scribed  for  many  centuries  prior  to  their  existence,  or  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  period  of  their  alleged  operation? 


48  PROPAGATION  AND  EXTENT 

have  penetrated  regions  unknown  to  any  work  of  human 
genius,  and  untouched  even  by  the  ardour  of  commer- 
cial speculation;  and,  with  the  prescription  of  more  than 
seventeen  centuries  in  its  favour,  the  prophecy  of  the 
poor  prisoner  of  Patmos  is  now  exemplified,  and  thus 
proved  to  be  more  than  a  mortal  vision,  in  the  unexam- 
pled communication  of  the  everlasting  gospel  unto  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth,  to  eVery  nation,  and  kindred, 
and  tongue,  and  people.  Christianity  is  professed  over 
Europe  and  America.  Christians  are  settled  throughout 
every  part  of  the  earth.  The  gospel  is  now  translated 
into  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  languages  and  dia- 
lects, which  are  prevalent  in  countries  from  the  one  ex- 
tremity of  the  world  to  the  other :  and  what  other  book, 
since  the  creation,  has  ever  been  read  or  known  in  a 
tenth  part  of  the  number?  Whatever  may  be  the 
secondary  causes  by  which  these  'events  have  been  ac- 
complished, or  whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  men 
respecting  them,  the  predictions  which  they  amply  verify 
must  have  originated  by  inspiration  from  him  who  is 
the  first  Great  Cause.  What  divine  warrant,  equal  to 
this  alone,  can  all  the  speculations  of  infidelity  supply, 
or  can  any  freethinker  produce,  for  disbelieving  the 
gospel  ? 

It  is  apparent,  on  a  general  view  of  the  prophecies 
which  refer  to  Christ  and  to  the  Christian  religion,  that 
they  include  predictions  relative  to  many  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  which  are  subjects  of  pure  revelation, 
or  which  reason  of  itself  could  never  have  discovered ; 
and  these  very  doctrines,  to  which  the  self-sufficiency 
of  human  wisdom  is  often  averse  to  yield  assent,  are 
thus  to  be  numbered,  in  this  respect,  among  the  crite- 
rions  of  the  truth  of  divine  revelation  ;  for  if  these 
doctrines  had  not  been  contained  in  Scripture,  the 
prophecies  respecting  them  could  not  have  been  fulfilled. 
And  the  more  w^onderful  they  appear,  they  were  by  so 
much  the  more  unlikely  or  inconceivable  to  have  been 
foretold  by  man,  and  to  have  been  afterwards  imbodied 
m  a  system  of  religion. 


OF   CHRISTIANITY.  49 

It  IS?  also  evident  that  there  are  many  prophecies  ap- 
plicable to  Jesus,  to  which  no  allusion  is  made  in  the 
history  of  his  life.  The  minds  of  his  disciples  were 
long  impressed  with  the  prejudices,  arising  from  the 
lowliness  of  his  mortal  state,  which  were  prevalent 
among  the  Jews ;  and  they  viewed  the  prophecies 
through  the  mist  of  those  traditions  which  had  magnified 
the  earthly  power  to  which  alone  they  looked,  and  ob- 
scured the  divine  nature  of  the  expected  reign  of  the 
Messiah.  It  was  only  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
as  the  Scripture  informs  us,  that  their  understandings 
were  opened  to  know  the  prophecies.  But  while  the 
accomplishment  of  many  of  these  predictions  is  thus 
unnoticed  in  the  New  Testament,  the  fulfilment  of  each 
and  all  of  them  is  written,  as  with  a  pen  of  iron,  in  the 
life  and  doctrine  and  death  of  Jesus ; — and  the  unde- 
signed and  unsuspicious  proof,  thus  indirectly  but  amply 
given,  is  now  stronger  than  if  an  appeal  had  been  made 
to  the  prophecies  in  every  instance; — and,  freed  from 
the  prejudices  of  the  Jews,  we  may  now  combine  and 
compare  all  the  antecedent  prophecies  respecting  the 
Messiah  with  the  narrative  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
with  the  nature  and  history  of  Christianity ;  and  having 
seen  how  the  former  is  a  transcript  of  the  latter,  we  may 
draw  the  legitimate  conclusion,  that  the  spirit  of  pro- 
phecy is  indeed  the  testimony  of  Jesus. 

And  may  it  not,  on  a  review  of  the  whole,  be  war- 
rantably  asserted,  that  the  time  and  place  of  the  birth 
of  Christ,  the  tribe  and  the  family  from  which  he  was 
descended,  the  manner  of  his  life,  his  character,  his 
miracles,  his  sufferings  and  his  death ;  the  nature  of  his 
doctrine,  and  the  fate  of  his  religion ;  that  it  was  to 
proceed  from  Jerusalem,  that  the  Jews  would  reject  it, 
that  it  would  be  opposed  and  persecuted  at  first,  that  it 
would  be  extended  to  the  gentiles,  that  idolatry  would 
give  way  before  it,  that  kings  would  sulDmit  to  its  author- 
ity, and  that  it  would  be  spread  throughout  many 
nations,  even  to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  earth,— 
were  all  of  them  subjects  of  ancient  prophecy .? 
5 


50  PROPAGATION   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Why,  then,  were  so  many  prophecies  dehvered? 
Why,  from  the  calling  of  Abraham  to  the  present  time, 
have  the  Jews  been  separated,  as  a  peculiar  people, 
from  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  Why,  from  the  age 
of  Moses  to  that  of  Malachi,  during  the  space  of  one 
thousand  years,  did  a  succession  of  prophets  arise,  all 
testifying  of  a  Saviour  that  was  to  come  ?  Why  was 
the  book  of  prophecy  sealed'  for  nearly  four  hundred 
years  before  the  coming  of  Christ  ?  Why  is  there  still, 
to  this  day,  undisputed  if  not  miraculous  evidence  of 
the  antiquity  of  all  these  prophecies,  by  their  being 
sacredly  preserved  in  every  age,  in  the  custody  and 
guardianship  of  the  enemies  of  Christianity?  Why 
was  such  a  multiplicity  of  facts  predicted  that  are  appU- 
cable  to  Christ  and  to  him  alone  ?  Why,  but  that  all 
this  mighty  preparation  might  usher  in  the  gospel  of 
righteousness ;  and  that,  like  all  the  works  of  the  Al- 
mighty, his  word  through  Jesus  Christ  might  never 
be  left  without  a  witness  of  his  wisdom  and  his 
power?  And  if  the  prophecies  which  testify  of  the 
gospel  and  its  Author  display,  from  the  slight  glance 
which  has  here  been  given  of  them,  any  traces  of  the 
finger  of  God,  how  strong  must  be  the  conviction  which 
a  full  view  of  them  imparts  to  the  minds  of  those  who 
diligently  search  the  Scriptures,  and  see  how  clearly 
they  testify  of  Christ ! 


DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  51 


CHAPTER  III. 

PROPHECIES    CONCERNING   THE   DESTRUCTION    OF 
JERUSALEM. 

The  commonwealth  of  Israel,  from  its  establishment 
to  its  dissolution,  subsisted  for  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
years.  In  delivering  their  law,  Moses  assumed  more  than 
the  authority  of  a  human  legislator,  and  asserted  that 
he  was  invested  with  a  divine  commission  ;  and  in  en- 
joining obedience  to  it,  after  having  conducted  them  to 
the  borders  of  Canaan,  he  promises  many  blessings  to 
accompany  their  compliance  with  the  law,  and  de- 
nounces grievous  judgments  that  would  overtake  them 
for  the  breach  of  it.  The  history  of  the  Jews  in  each  suc- 
ceeding age,  attests  the  truth  of  the  last  prophetic  warning 
of  the  first  of  their  rulers ;  but  too  lengthened  a  detail 
would  be  requisite  for  its  elucidation.  Happily,  it  con- 
tains predictions,  applicable  to  more  recent  events,  which 
admit  not  of  any  ambiguous  interpretation,  and  refer  to 
historical  facts  that  admit  no  cavil.  He  who  founded 
their  government,  foretold,  notwithstanding  the  interven- 
tion of  so  many  ages,  the  manner  of  its  overthrow. 
While  they  were  wandering  in  the  wilderness,  without  a 
city  and  without  a  home,  he  threatened  them  with 
the  destruction  of  their  cities,  and  the  devastation  of 
their  country.  While  they  viewed,  for  the  first  time, 
the  land  of  Palestine,  and  when,  victorious  and  tri- 
umphant, they  were  about  to  possess  it,  he  represented 
the  scene  of  desolation  that  it  would  exhibit  to  their 
vanquished  and  enslaved  posterity,  on  their  last  departure 
from  it.  Ere  they  themselves  had  entered  it  as  enemies, 
he  describes  those  enemies  by  whom  their  descendants 
were  to  be  subjugated  and  dispossessed,  though  they 
were  to  arise  from  a  very  distant  region,  and  although 
they  did  not  appear  till  after  a  millenary  and  a  half  of 


52       DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

years :  "  The  Lord  shall  bring  a  nation  against  thee 
from  far,  from  the  end  of  the  earth,  as  swift  as  the 
eagle  flieth ;  a  nation  whose  tongue  thou  shalt  not  un- 
derstand ;  a  nation  of  fierce  countenance,  which  shall 
not  regard  the  person  of  the  old,  nor  show  favour  to  the 
young.  And  he  shall  eat  the  fruit  of  thy  cattle,  and  the 
fruit  of  thy  land,  until  thou  be  destroyed  :  which  also 
shall  not  leave  thee  either  c6rn,  wine,  or  oil,  or  the 
increase  of  thy  kine,  or  flocks  of  thy  sheep,  until  he 
have  destroyed  thee ;  and  he  shall  besiege  thee  in  all 
thy  gates,  until  thy  high  and  fenced  walls  come  down, 
wherein  thou  trustedst,  throughout  all  thy  land."^  Each 
particular  of  this  prophecy,  though  it  be  only  intro- 
ductory to  others,  has  met  its  full  completion.  The 
remote  situation  of  the  Romans,  the  rapidity  of  their 
march,  the  very  emblem  of  their  arms,  their  unknown 
Icmguage  and  warlike  appearance,  the  indiscriminate 
cruelty  and  unsparing  pillage  which  they  exercised 
towards  the  persons  and  the  property  of  the  Jews,  could 
scarcely  have  been  represented  in  more  descriptive 
terms.*  Vespasian,  Adrian,  and  Julius  Severus  re- 
moved with  part  of  their  armies  from  Britain  to  Palestine, 
the  extreme  points  of  the  Roman  world.  The  eagle 
was  the  standard  of  their  armies,  and  the  utmost  activity 
and  expedition  were  displayed  in  the  reduction  of  Judea. 
They  were  a  nation  of  fierce  countenance,  a  race  dis- 
tinct from  the  effeminate  Asiatic  troops.  At  Gadara  and 
Gamala,  throughout  many  parts  of  the  Roman  empire, 
and,  in  repeated  instances,  at  Jerusalem  itself,  the 
slaughter  of  the  Jews  was  indiscriminate,  without  dis- 
tinction of  age  or  sex.  The  inhabitants  were  enslaved 
and  banished,  all  their  possessions  confiscated,  and  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  humbled  at  first  into  a  province  of 
the  Roman  empire,  became  at  last  the  private  property 
of  the  emperor.  Throughout  all  the  land  of  Judea  every 
city  was  besieged  and  taken  ;  and  their  high  and  fenced 
walls  were  razed  from  the  foundation.     But  the  prophet 

'  Deut.  xxvii.  49 — 52. 

2  See  Jackson,  Poole,  Patrick,  Whiston,  Bishop  Newton,  &,c. 


DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM.  53 

particularizes  incidents  the  most  shocking  to  humanity, 
which  mark  the  utmost  possible  extremity  of  want  and 
wretchedness  ;  the  last  act  to  which  famine  could  prompt 
despair,  and  the  last  subject  of  a  prediction  that  could 
have  been  uttered  by  man :  "  And  thou  shalt  eat  the 
fruit  of  thine  own  body,  the  flesh  of  thy  sons  and  of 
thy  daughters, — in  the  siege  and  in  the  straitness  where- 
with thine  enemies  shall  distress  thee  ;  so  that  the  man 
that  is  tender  among  you,  and  very  delicate,  his  eyes 
shall  be  evil  toward  his  brother,  and  toward  the  wife 
of  his  bosom,  and  tow^ard  the  remnant  of  his  children 
which  he  shall  leave ;  so  that  he  will  not  give  to  any 
of  them  of  the  flesh  of  his  children  whom  he  shall  eat, 
because  he  hath  nothing  left  him  in  the  siege,  and  in 
the  straitness,  wherewith  thine  enemies  shall  distress 
thee  in  all  thy  gates.  The  tender  and  delicate  woman 
among  you,  which  would  not  adventure  to  set  the  sole 
of  her  foot  upon  the  ground  for  delicateriess  and  ten- 
derness, her  eye  shall  be  evil  toward  the  husband  of  her 
bosom,  and  toward  her  son,  and  toward  her  daughter, 
and  toward  her  young  one,  and  toward  her  children 
which  she  shall  bear :  for  she  shall  eat  them  for  want 
of  all  things  secretly  in  the  siege  and  straitness  where- 
with thine  enemy  shall  distress  thee  in  thy  gates. "^  No 
commentator,  nor  careful  readev  of  Scripture  and  of 
Jewish  history,  could  fail  to  observe  the  repeated  in- 
stances of  the  fulfilment  of  this  striking  and  awful  pre- 
diction. When  Samaria,  then  the  capital  of  Israel,  was 
besieged  by  all  the  hosts  of  the  king  of  Syria,  an  ass's 
head  was  sold  for  eighty  pieces  of  silver.^  When  Ne- 
buchadnezzar besieged  Jerusalem,  the  famine  prevailed 
in  the  city,  and  there  was  no  bread  for  the  people  of  the 
land.  And  Josephus,  in  his  history  of  the  Jewish  war, 
relates  the  direful  calamities  of  the  Jews  in  their  last 
siege,  before  they  ceased  to  have  a  city.  The  famine 
was  too  powerful  for  all  other  passions,  for  what  was 
otherwise  reverenced  was  in  this  case  despised.  Child- 
ren snatched  the  food  out  of  the  very  mouths  of  their 
'  Deut.  xxviii.  53—57.  2  2  Kings  vi.  35. 

5* 


54  DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM. 

fathers;  and  even  mothers,  overcoming  the  tenderest 
feelings  of  nature,  took  from  their  perishing  infants  the 
last  morsels  that  could  sustain  their  lives. — In  every 
house  where  there  was  the  least  shadow  of  food,  a  con- 
test arose ;  and  the  nearest  relatives  struggled  with  each 
other  for  the  miserable  means  of  subsistence.*  He  adds 
a  most  revolting  detail.*  While,  in  all  these  cases,  the 
eve  of  man  was  thus  evil  towards  his  brother,  in  the 
siege  and  in  the  straitness  wherewith  their  enemies  dis- 
tressed them ;  the  unparalleled  inhuman  compact  be- 
tween the  two  women  of  Samaria  ;  the  bitter  lamentation 
of  Jeremiah  over  the  miseries  of  the  siege  which  he 
witnessed,  "  The  hands  of  the  pitiful  women  have  sod- 
den their  own  children,  they  were  their  meat  in  the 
destruction  of  the  daughter  of  my  people ;"  and  the 
harrowing  recital,  by  Josephus,  of  the  noble  lady  killing, 
with  her  own  hands,  and  eating  secretly,  her  own  suck- 
ling, (the  discovery  of  which  struck  even  the  whole 
suffering  city  with  horror,)  which  are  all  recorded  as 
facts,  without  the  least  allusion  to  the  prediction, — too 
faithfully  realize,  to  the  very  letter,  the  dread  denuncia- 
tions of  the  prophet.  When  any  well-authenticated 
facts,  of  so  singular  and  appalling  a  nature,  were  pre- 
dicted for  ages,  they  could  not  possibly  have  been 
revealed  but  by  inspiration  from  that  Omniscience  which 
alone  can  foresee  the  termination  of  the  iniquities  of 
nations. 

Moses,  and  the  other  prophets,  foretold  also  that  the 
Jews  would  be  left  few  in  number,  that  they  would  be 
slain  before  their  enemies,  that  the  pride  of  their  power 
would  be  broken,  that  their  cities  would  be  laid  waste, 
that  they  would  be  destroyed  and  brought  to  naught, 
plucked  from  off  the  land,  sold  for  slaves,  and  that  none 
would  buy  them ;  that  their  high  places  were  to  be 
desolate,  and  their  bones  to  be  scattered  around  their 
altars  ;  that  Jerusalem  was  to  be  encamped  round  about, 

'  Joseph.  Hist.  lib.  v.  c.  x.  §  3. — lib.  vi.  c.  iii.  §  3.     Quoted  by 
Eusebius,  a.  n.  315. — Ecc.  Hist.  lib.  iii.  c.  vi.  p.  95, 97.  Patrick,  &c. 
2  Joseph,  ibid,  vi  c.  iii.  §  4. 


DESTRUCTION   OF  JERUSALEM.  55 

to  be  besieged  with  a  mount,  to  have  forts  raised  against 
it,  to  be  ploughed  over  as  a  field,  and  to  become  heaps ; 
that  the  end  was  to  come  upon  it ;  and  that  the  Lord 
would  judge  them  according  to  their  ways,  and  recom- 
pense them  for  all  their  abominations ;  the  sword  with- 
out, and  the  pestilence  and  the  famine  within :  "he that 
is  in  the  field  shall  die  with  the  sword  ;  and  he  that  is 
in  the  city,  famine  and  pestilence  shall  devour  him."* 

These  predictions,  which  are  recorded  in  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  in  the  subsequent  prophecies,  accord  with 
the  minute  prophetic  narrative  which  Jesus  gave  of  the 
siege  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Any  adequate  de- 
lineation of  it  alone  would  far  surpass  the  limits  of  this 
treatise.  But  the  subject  has  been  fully  and  frequently 
illustrated,  and  the  prediction  harmonizes  so  completely 
with  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  impartial  historians, 
that  it  is  merely  necessary,  for  the  elucidation  of  its  truth, 
to  compare  the  prophetic  description  with  the  historical 
fact.2 


'  Lev.  xxvi.  30,  &c. ;  Deut.  xxviii.  62,  &c. ;  Isa.  xxiv.  3  ;  Ezek. 
vi.  5  ;  Micah  iii.  12  ;  Jer.  xxvi.  18  ;  Ezek.  vii.  7 — 9,  15. 

2  "  The  particular  parts  of  the  whole  discourse  have  been  ad- 
mirably illustrated  by  many  learned  commentators.  Christian 
writers  have  always,  with  great  reason,  represented  Josephus's 
History  of  the  Jewish  War  as  the  best  commentary  on  this  chap- 
ter, (Matt.  xxiv. ;)  and  many  have  justly  remarked  it,  as  a  won- 
derful instance  of  the  care  of  Providence  for  the  Christian  church, 
that  he,  an  eyewitness,  and  in  these  things  of  so  great  credit, 
should  (especially  in  such  an  extraordinary  manner)  be  pre- 
served, to  transmit  to  us  a  collection  of  important  facts,  which  so 
exactly  illustrate  this  noble  prophecy  in  almost  every  circum- 
stance."— Doddridge's  Family  Expositor,  vol.  ii.  p.  373 ;  second 
edition,  1745.  No  author,  perhaps,  has  been  more  frequently 
quoted  on  any  subject  than  Josephus  on  this  ;  his  History  of  the 
Wars  of  the  Romans  with  the  Jews  having  been  for  many  ages 
the  common  property  of  the  Christian  church,  in  illustration  of 
the  prophecies  concerning  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  These 
prophecies  were  quoted  and  illustrated  by  Eusebius  above  1500 
years  ago,  lib.  iv.  c.  v. — ix.  p.  92 — 102,  edit.  Cantab.  1720.  After 
giving  a  tragic  summary,  from  the  5th  and  6th  books  of  Jose- 
phus's history  of  the  miseries  sustained  from  famine  during  the 
siege,  he  emphatically  and  justly  states,  that  if  any  one  compare 
the  words  of  Christ  with  Josephus's  narrative  of  the  whole  war 


56  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

Besides  frequent  allusions  in  his  discourses  and  para- 
bles,* the  predictions  of  Christ,  concerning  Jerusalem, 
are  recorded  at  length  by  three  of  the  evangelists.  They 
are  omitted  by  the  apostle  John,  in  whose  writings  alone, 
from  the  age  to  which  he  lived,  their  insertion  could 
have  been  suspicious.  They  were  delivered  to  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  in  answer  to  those  direct  questions  which 
they  put,  in  their  surprise  and 'alarm,  at  his  declaration 
of  the  fate  of  the  temple,  "  When  shall  these  things  be.^ 
What  shall  be  the  sign  of  them,  and  of  the  end  of  the 
world  ?"  The  reply  embraces  all  the  subjects  of  the 
query,  and  is  equally  circumstantial  and  distinct.  The 
death  of  Christ  happened  thirty-seven  years  previous  to 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  By  the  unanimous  testi- 
mony of  antiquity,  the  three  gospels  were  published,  and 
at  least  two  of  the  evangelists  were  dead,  several  years 
before  that  event.  Copies  of  the  gospels  were  dissemi- 
nated so  extensively  and  rapidly,  that  any  deceit  must 
have  been  instantaneously  detected  by  the  powerful,  and 
numerous,  and  watchful  enemies  of  the  cross.  And  the 
evidence  of  the  prior  publicity  of  the  gospels  was  so 
strong,  that  it  remained  unchallenged  by  Julian,  by- 
Porphyry,  or  by  Celsus.  The  authenticity  of  the  pro- 
phecy thus  rests  on  sure  grounds,  and  the  facts  in  which 
it  received  its  accomplishment  are  incontestable.  Jose- 
he  cannot  but  admire  the  wonderful  prescience  and  prophecy  of 
Christ,  and  confess  that  they  were  truly  divine  and  exceedingly 
wonderful.  So  fully  and  frequently  has  the  subject  been  illustrated, 
as  stated  in  every  edition  of  this  treatise,  that  any  "  studious  Chris- 
tian," at  all  versed  in  the  subject,  could  be  at  no  loss  to  form,  from 
the  works  of  various  writers  in  past  ages,  a  volume  of  coincident 
illustrations  of  the  same  predictions  from  the  same  authorities. 
It  may  here  suffice  to  mention  the  names  of  Eusebius,  Grotius, 
Tillemont,  Jackson,  Poole,  Patrick,  Tillotson,  Whitby,  Abbadie, 
Whiston,  Doddridge,  Pearce,  Bishop  Newton,  Lardner,  &c.,  the 
last  of  whom,  in  a  single  treatise,  has  250  references  to  Josephus 
alone.  Josephus,  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  and  Eusebius,  are  quoted 
or  referred  to  in  a  single  paragraph  by  Doddridge,  as  well  as  by 
many  preceding  writers ;  and  in  this  brief  and  most  imperfect 
summary,  these  authorities  were  consulted  from  the  first. 

^  MalU  xxi.  18,  19,  33—44,  xxii.  1— 7,xxv.  14—30  ;  Mark  xi.  12 
—20,  &c. ;  Luke  xiii.  6—9,  xiv.  16—24,  xx.  9—18,  xxiii.  27—31. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.       57 

phus  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  generals  in  the 
commencement  of  the  Jewish  war ;  he  was  an  eye-wit- 
ness of  the  facts  which  he  records ;  he  appeals  to  Ves- 
pasian and  to  Titus  for  the  truth  of  his  history ;  it 
received  the  singular  attestation  of  the  subscription  of 
the  latter  to  its  accuracy;  it  was  published  while  the 
facts  were  recent  and  notorious ;  and  the  extreme  care- 
fulness with  which  he  avoids  the  mention  of  the  name 
of  Christ,  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  war,  is  not  less 
remarkable  than  the  great  precision  with  which  he  de- 
scribes the  events  that  verify  his  predictions.  Not  a  few 
of  the  transactions  are  also  related  by  Tacitus,  Suetonius, 
Philostratus,  and  Dion  Cassius. 

The  different  prophecies  of  Christ  respecting  Jerusa- 
lem, may  be  condensed  into  a  single  view. 

"  And  Jesus  went  out,  and  departed  from  the  temple ; 
and  his  disciples  came  to  him,  for  to  show  him  the 
buildings  of  the  temple.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them, 
See  ye  not  all  these  things  ?  verily  I  say  unto  you,  there 
shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  another  that  shall 
not  be  thrown  down.  And  as  he  sat  upon  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  the  disciples  came  unto  him  privately,  saying, 
Tell  us,  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and  what  shall  be 
the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of  the  world  ? 
And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them.  Take  heed  that 
no  man  deceive  you  ;  for  many  shall  come  in  my  name, 
saying,  I  am  Christ ;  and  shall  deceive  many.  And  the 
time  draws  near  ;  and  ye  shall  hear  of  wars,  and  rumours 
of  wars :  (or  commotions  :)  these  things  must  first  come  to 
pass,  but  the  end  is  not  yet.  Nation  shall  rise  against  na- 
tion, and  kingdom  against  kingdom ;  and  great  earthquakes 
shall  be  in  divers  places,  and  famines,  and  pestilences, 
and  fearful  sights  ;  and  great  signs  shall  there  be  from 
heaven.  All  these  things  are  the  beginning  of  sorrows. 
But,  before  all  these  things,  shall  they  lay  their  hands 
upon  you,  and  persecute  you,  delivering  you  up  to  the 
synagogues  and  into  prisons,  being  brought  before  kings 
and  rulers  for  my  name's  sake.  And  many  shall  be 
offended.      Ye  shall  be  betrayed  both  by  parents  and 


58  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

orethren,  and  kinsfolk  and  friends :  and  some  of  you 
shall  they  cause  to  be  put  to  death,  and  ye  shall  be  hated 
of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake.  But  there  shall  not  a 
hair  of  your  head  perish.  And  many  false  prophets  will 
arise  and  will  deceive  many :  and,  because  iniquity  shall 
abound,  the  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold.  And  the 
gospel  must  first  be  published .  among  all  nations,  and 
then  shall  the  end  come.  When  ye,  therefore,  shall  see 
Jerusalem  encompassed  with  armies,  and  the  abomina- 
tion of  desolation  stand  in  the  holy  place,  and  where  it 
ought  not,  then  let  them  which  are  in  Judea  flee  to  the 
mountains,  and  let  him  which  is  in  the  midst  of  it  depart 
out.  Let  him  which  is  on  the  house-top  not  go  down 
into  the  house,  neither  enter  therein  to  take  any  thing  out 
of  his  house.  Neither  let  him  that  is  in  the  field  turn 
back  again  for  to  take  up  his  garment,  for  these  are  the 
days  of  vengeance.  But  wo  unto  them  that  are  with 
child,  and  to  them  that  give  suck  in  those  days;  for 
there  shall  be  great  distress  in  the  land,  and  wrath  upon 
this  people ;  and  they  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
and  shall  be  led  captive  into  all  nations.  There  shall 
be  great  tribulation,  such  as  was  not  fi:om  the  beginning 
of  the  world  to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be  ;  and 
Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles,  until 
the  time  of  the  Gentiles  be  fiilfilled.  This  generation 
shall  not  pass  away  till  all  these  things  be  done."^ 

"  Wo  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees  ;  fill  ye  up  the 
measure  of  your  fathers.  Behold,  I  send  unto  you  pro- 
phets, and  wise  men,  and  scribes  ;  and  some  of  them  ye 
shall  kill,  and  crucify,  and  some  of  them  shall  ye  scourge 
in  your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from  city  to 
city.  All  these  things  shall  come  upon  this  generation. 
0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as 
a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye 
would  not !  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  deso- 
late. For  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  shall  not  see  me  hence- 
'  Matt.  xxiv. ;  Mark  xiii. ;  Luke  xxi. 


DESTRUCTION  OF   JERUSALEM.  59 

forth  till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.^ 

"  When  he  was  come  near,  he  beheld  the  city,  and 
wept  over  it,  saying.  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  at 
least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  to  thy 
peace !  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes.  For  the 
days  shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast 
a  trench  about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep 
thee  in  on  every  side,  and  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the 
ground,  and  thy  children  within  thee ;  and  they  shall 
not  leave  in  thee  one  stone  upon  another,  because  thou 
knewest  not  the  time  of  thy  visitation. "^ 

These  prophecies,  from  the  Old  Testament  and  from 
the  New,  repel  the  charge  of  ambiguity.  They  are 
equally  copious  and  clear.  History  attests  the  truth  of 
each  and  all  of  them ;  and  a  recapitulation  of  them 
forms  an  enumeration  of  the  facts.  False  Christs  ap- 
peared. Simon  Magus  boasted  that  he  was  some  great 
one.  Dositheus,  the  Samaritan,  pretended  that  he  was 
the  lawgiver  prophesied  of  by  Moses.  Theudas,  pro- 
mising the  performance  of  a  miracle,  persuaded  a  great 
multitude  to  follow  him  to  Jordan,  and  deceived  many.^ 
The  country  was  filled  with  impostors  and  deceivers, 
w^ho  induced  the  people  to  follow  them  into  the  wilder- 
ness ;'' — their  credulity  became  the  punishment  of  their 
previous  skepticism,  and,  in  one  instance,  the  tumult  was 
so  great,  that  the  soldiers  took  two  hundred  prisoners,  and 
slew  twice  that  number.  There  were  wars  and  ru- 
mours of  wars  ;  nation  rose  against  nation^  and  kingdom 
against  kingdom.  The  Jews  resisted  the  erection  of  the 
statue  of  CaHgula  in  the  temple ;  and  such  was  the  dread  of 
Roman  resentment,  that  the  fields  remained  uncultivated. 
At  Caesarea,  the  Jews  and  Syrians  contended  for  the 
mastery  of  the  city.  Twenty  thousand  of  the  former 
were  put  to  death,  and  the  rest  were  expelled.     Every 

'  Matt,  xxiii.  29,  32,  34,  36—39.  2  Luke  xix.  41 — 44. 

3  Joseph.  Ant.  lib.  xx.  cap.  v.  §  1.  Quoted  by  Grotius,  Whitby 
&c.  &c. 

''  Joseph.  Ant.  lib.  xx.  cap.  viii.  quoted  by  Grotius,  &e. 


30  DESTRUCTION   OF  JERUSALEM. 

city  in  Syria  was  then  divided  into  two  armies,  and 
multitudes  were  slaughtered/  Alexandria  and  Damas- 
cus presented  a  similar  scene  of  bloodshed.  About 
fifty  thousand  of  the  Jews  fell  in  the  former,  and  ten 
thousand  in  the  latter."  The  Jewish  nation  rebelled 
against  the  Romans ;  Italy  was  convulsed  with  conten- 
tions for  the  empire;  and,  as  ^  proof  of  the  troublous 
and  warlike  character  of  the  period,  within  the  brief 
space  of  two  years,  four  emperors,  Nero,  Galba,  Otho, 
and  Vitellius,  suffered  death.  There  were  famines,  pes- 
tilenceSy  and  earthqua/ces  in  divers  places.  In  the  reign 
of  Claudius  Caesar  there  were  different  famines.  They 
continued  to  be  severe  for  several  years  throughout  the 
land  of  Judea.  Pestilence  succeeded  them.  In  the 
same  reign  there  were  earthquakes  at  Rome,  at  Apamea, 
and  at  Crete.  In  that  of  Nero  there  was*  an  earthquake 
in  Campania,  and  another  in  which  Laodicea,  Hierapo- 
lis,  and  Colosse  were  overthrown ;  and  others  are  re- 
corded to  have  happened  in  various  places,  before  the 
destruction  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem.^  "  The  constitu- 
tion of  nature,"  says  the  Jewish  historian,*  "  was  con- 
founded for  the  destruction  of  men,  and  one  might  easily 
conjecture  that  no  common  calamities  were  portended." 
^nd  there  were  fearful  sights  and  signs  from  heaven. 
Tacitus  and  Josephus  agree  in  relating  and  in  describ- 
ing events  so  surprising  and  supernatural,  that  their  nar- 
rative perfectly  accords  with  the  previous  prediction.* 
And  the  fact  cannot  be  disputed,  that,  whatever  these 
sights  were,  the  minds  of  men  were  impressed  with  the 

'  Joseph.  Ant.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xviii.  §§  1,  2.  Tillotson,  Bishop 
Newton,  &c. 

2  Ibid.  lib.  ii.  c.  xviii.  §§  7,  8,  c.  xx.  §  2.  Ibid. 

3  Suet.  Vit.  Claud,  cap.  xviii. ;  Tac.  Ann.  lib.  xii.  c.  xliii.,  lib. 
xiv.  c.  xxvii. ;  Jos.  lib.  iv.  c.  iv.     Grotius,  Whitby,  &c. 

*  Jos.  Ibid.    Whitby,  Newton,  Scott's  Commentary. 

*  "Evenerant  prodigia,  quae  neque  hostiis  neque  votis  piare  fas 
habel  gens  superstitioni  obnoxia,  religionibus  adversa.  Visas  per 
coelum  concurrere  acies,  rutilantia  arma,  et  subito  nubium  igne 
collucere  templum.  Expassae  repente  delubri  fores,  et  audita 
major  humana  vox,  excedere  deos;  simul  ingens  motus  exceden- 
lium."     (Tacit.  Hist.  lib.  v.  cap.  xiii.)  Whitby,  &c. 


DESTRUCTION   OF  JERUSALEM.  61 

idea  that  they  were  indeed  signs  from  heaven :  and  even 
this  could  never  have  been  foreseen  by  man.  There  is 
surely  something  at  least  unaccountable  in  their  predic 
tion,  and  in  their  relation  by  historians,  unprejudiced 
and  unfriendly  to  the  cause  which  their  testimony  sup- 
ports. The  disciples  of  Jesus  were  persecuted,  imprisoned, 
afflicted,  and  hated  of  all  nations,  for  his  name^s  sake, 
and  many  of  them  were  put  to  death.  Peter,  Simon, 
and  Jude  were  crucified.^  Paul  was  beheaded;  Mat- 
thew, Thomas,  James,  Matthias,  Mark,  and  Luke,  were 
put  to  death  in  different  countries,  and  in  various  man- 
ners. There  was  a  war  against  the  very  name.  They 
were  accused  of  hatred  to  the  human  race.  The  preju- 
dices and  the  interests  of  the  supporters  of  paganism 
were  everywhere  against  them  ;  and,  in  one  memorable 
instance,  Nero,  to  screen  himself  from  the  guilt  of  being 
the  incendiary  of  his  capital,  accused  the  innocent  but 
hated  Christians  of  that  atrocious  deed,  and  inflicted 
upon  them  the  most  excruciating  tortures.^  He  made 
their  sufferings  a  spectacle  and  a  sport  to  the  Romans. 
To  compensate  for  his  disappointment  in  not  trampling 
on  the  ashes  of  Rome,  as  well  as  to  cloak  his  iniquity, 
the  monster  (for  the  man  and  the  monarch  were  both 
laid  aside)  gratified  his  savage  lust  of  cruelty  by  the 
substitution  of  one  feast  for  another;  he  selected  the 
Christians  for  his  victims,  from  the  general  odium  under 
which  they  lay ;  and  their  very  name  became  the  war- 
rant for  that  selection,  and  sufficed  to  sanction  the  in- 
fliction of  unheard-of  barbarities.  Many  shall  be  offended 
and  shall  betray  one  another ;  and  the  love  of  many  shall 
wax  cold.  The  apostle  of  the  gentiles  often  complained 
of  false  brethren,  that  many  turned  away  from  him,  and 
that  he  stood  alone,  forsaken  by  all,  when  he  first  ap- 
peared before  Nero.  And  Tacitus  testifies  that  very 
many  were  convicted,  on  the  evidence  of  others  who 
had  previously  been  accused.  But  the  gospel  was  pub- 
lished throughout  the  world,  in  defiance  of  all  peril  and 

'  Cave's  Lives  of  the  Apostles  ;  Dupin. 
2  Tacit.  Annal.  lib.  xv.  cap.  xliv.    Whitby,  &c. 
6 


62       DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

persecution.  In  the  age  of  the  apostles,  epistles  were 
addressed  to  Christians  at  Rome,  Corinth,  Ephesus, 
Philippi,  Colosse,  Thessalonica,  and  in  Pontus,  Galatia, 
Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia.  After  Christ  deUvered 
this  prophecy,  he  was  in  a  little  time  forsaken  by  all  his 
disciples,  and  put  to  death  as  a  criminal.  At  their  first 
assembly,  they  were  a  little  flock,  the  number  of  the 
names  together  being  about  a  hundred  and  twenty.  And, 
unpromismg  as  the  prospect  was,  a  few  fishermen  of 
Galilee,  aided  afterwards  by  a  tent-maker  of  Tarsus, 
circumscribed  not  their  labours,  in  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  by  the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  empire.  Could 
the  reception  or  the  fate  of  Christ  himself  have  warranted 
such  a  conclusion?  Did  ever  any  cause  triumph  by 
such  means  ?  or  was  there  any  cause  opposed  like  his  ? 
And  could  any  thing  be  more  unlikely  to  have  been 
clearly  foreseen  and  positively  affirmed?  All  these 
events  preceded  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  then 
the  end  of  that  city  was  at  hand.  The  signs  of  its  ap- 
proaching ruin  are  given  as  a  warning  to  depart  from  it. 
Jerusalem  was  encompassed  with  armies.  The  Roman 
armies,  with  their  idolatrous  ensigns,  which  were  an 
abomination  to  the  Jews,  surrounded  it ;  but  instead  of 
being  a  signal  for  flight,  this  would  naturally  have  im- 
plied the  impossibility  of  escape,  and  the  warning  would 
have  been  in  vain.  Yet  the  words  of  Jesus  did  not 
deceive  his  disciples.  Cestius  Gallus,  the  Roman  gene- 
ral, besieged  Jerusalem;  but  immediately  after,  contrary 
to  all  human  probability,  an  interval  was  given  for 
escape.  He  suddenly  and  causelessly  retreated,  though 
some  of  the  chief  men  of  the  city  had  offered  to  open 
to  him  the  gates.  Josephus  acknowledges  that  the 
utmost  consternation  prevailed  among  the  besieged,  and 
that  the  city  would  infallibly  have  been  taken.*  Anu 
he  attributes  it  to  the  just  vengeance  of  God,  that  the 
city  and  the  sanctuary  were  not  then  taken,  and  the  war 
terminated  at  once.  He  relates  also,  how  many  of  the 
most  illustrious  inhabitants  departed  from  the  city,  as  fi:om 
'  Joseph,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xix.  xx.    Grotius,  &c.  &c. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.       63 

a  sinking  vessel ;  and  how,  upon  the  approach  of  Ves- 
pasian afterwards,  multitudes  fled  from  Jericho  into  the 
mountainous  country.  Thither,  and  to  the  city  of  Pella, 
fled  all  the  disciples  of  Jesus  :^  and,  amidst  all  the  suc- 
ceeding calamities,  not  a  hair  of  their  Iieads  did  perish. 

There  shall  be  great  tribulation,  such  as  was  not  from, 
the  beginning  of  the  world  to  this  time,  no,  nor  shall  ever 
be.  There  shall  be  great  distress  in  the  land,  and  wrath 
upon  this  people.  T/iese  are  the  days  of  vengeance.  Such 
are  some  of  the  words  of  Jesus,  relative  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem ;  and  all  the  previous  prophecies  re- 
garding it  were  of  the  same  sad  import.  The  particulars 
of  the  siege  are  all  related  by  Josephus,  and  form  a  de- 
tail of  miseries  that  admit  not  of  exaggeration ;  and 
which  he  repeatedly  declares,  in  terms  that  entirely  ac- 
cord with  the  language  of  prophecy,  are  altogether  un- 
equalled in  the  history  of  the  world.  No  general  de- 
scription can  give  a  just  idea  of  calamities  the  most 
terrible  that  ever  nation  suffered.  The  Jews  had  assem- 
bled in  their  city  from  all  the  surrounding  country,  to 
keep  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread.  It  was  crowded 
with  inhabitants,  when  they  were  all  imprisoned  within 
its  walls.  The  passover,  which  was  commemorative  of 
their  first  great  deliverance,  had  collected  them  for  their 
last  signal  destruction.  Before  any  external  enemy  ap- 
peared, the  fiercest  dissensions  prevailed ;  the  blood  of 
thousands  was  shed  by  their  brethren ;  they  destroyed 
and  burned  in  their  frenzy  their  common  provisions  for 
the  siege  ;  they  were  destitute  of  any  regular  government, 
and  divided  into  three  factions.  On  the  extirpation  of 
one  of  these,  each  of  the  others  contended  for  the  mas- 
tery. The  most  ferocious  and  frantic,  the  robbers  or 
zealots,  as  they  are  indiscriminately  called,  prevailed  at 
last.  They  entered  the  temple,  under  the  pretence  of 
off*ering  sacrifices,  and  carried  concealed  weapons  for  the 
purpose  of  assassination.  They  slew  the  priests  at  the 
very  altar ;  and  their  blood,  instead  of  that  of  the  vic- 

'  Epiphanius  in  Hseres.  Nazar.  cap.  vii. ;  Eusebii  Ec,  Hist.  lib. 
iii.  cap.  V.     Whitby,  Doddridge,  &c. 


64  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

tims  for  sacrifice,  flowed  around  it.  They  afterwards 
rejected  all  terms  of  peace  with  the  enemy  ;  none  were 
suffered  to  escape  from  the  city ;  every  house  was  en- 
tered, every  article  of  subsistence  was  pillaged,  and  the 
most  wanton  barbarities  were  committed.  Nothing  could 
restrain  their  fury ;  wherever  there  was  the  appearance 
or  scent  of  food,  the  human  bloodhounds  tracked  it  out , 
and  though  a  general  famine  raged  around,  though  they 
were  ever  trampling  on  the  dead,  and  though  the  habi- 
tations for  the  living  were  converted  into  charnel-houses, 
nothing  could  intimidate,  or  appal,  or  satisfy,  or  shock 
them,  till  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Eleazar,  a  lady  once  rich 
and  noble,  displayed  to  tliem  and  offered  them  all  hei 
remaining  food,  the  scent  of  which  had  attracted  them 
in  their  search, — the  bitterest  morsel  that  ever  mother  or 
mortal  tasted, — the  remnant  of  her  half-eaten  suckling. 
Sixty  thousand  Roman  soldiers  unremittingly  besieged 
them ;  they  encompassed  Jerusalem  with  a  wall,  and 
hemmed  them  in  on  every  side  ;  they  brought  down  their 
high  and  fenced  walls  to  the  ground ;  they  slaughtered 
the  slaughterers,  they  spared  not  the  people  ;  they  burned 
the  temple,  in  defiance  of  the  commands,  the  threats,  and 
the  resistance  of  their  general.  With  it  the  last  hope  of 
all  the  Jews  was  extinguished.  They  raised,  at  the, 
sight,  an  universal  but  an  expiring  cry  of  sorrow  and 
despair.  Ten  thousand  were  there  slain,  and  six  thou- 
sand victims  were  enveloped  in  its  blaze.  The  whole 
city,  full  of  the  famished  dying,  and  of  the  murdered 
dead,  presented  no  picture  but  that  of  despair,  no  scene 
but  of  horror.  The  aqueducts  and  the  city  sewers  were 
crowded  as  the  last  refuge  of  the  hopeless.  Two  thou^ 
sand  were  found  dead  there,  and  many  were  dragged 
from  thence  and  slain.  The  Roman  soldiers  put  all  in- 
discriminately to  death,  and  ceased  not  till  they  became 
faint  and  weary  and  overpowered  with  the  work  of  de- 
struction. But  they  only  sheathed  the  sword  to  light  the 
torch.  They  set  fire  to  the  city  in  various  places.  The 
flames  spread  everywhere,  and  were  checked  but  for  a 
moment  by  the  red  streamlets  in  every  street.     Jerusalem 


DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.       65 

became  heaps,  and  the  mountain  of  the  house  as  the  high 
places  of  the  forest.  Within  the  circuit  of  a  few  miles,  in 
the  space  of  five  months, — foes  and  famine,  pillage  and 
pestilence  within, — a  triple  wall  around,  and  besieged 
every  moment  from  without, — eleven  hundred  thousand 
human  beings  perished,  though  the  tale  of  each  of  them 
was  a  tragedy.  Was  there  ever  so  concentrated  a  mass 
of  misery  ?  Could  any  prophecy  be  more  faithfully  and 
awfully  fulfilled  ?  The  prospect  of  his  own  crucifixion, 
when  Jesus  was  on  his  way  to  Calvary,  was  not  more 
clearly  before  him,  and  seemed  to  affect  him  less,  than 
the  fate  of  Jerusalem.  How  full  of  tenderness,  and 
fraught  with  truth,  was  the  sympathetic  response  of  the 
condohng  sufferer,  to  the  wailings  and  lamentations  of 
the  women  who  followed  him,  when  he  turned  unto  them 
and  beheld  the  city,  which  some  of  them  might  yet  see 
wrapt  in  flames  and  drenched  in  blood,  and  said,  "Daugh- 
ters of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  your- 
selves and  for  your  children.  For,  behold,  the  days  are 
coming,  in  the  which  they  will  say,  Blessed  are  the  bar- 
ren, and  the  wombs  that  never  bare,  and  the  paps  which 
never  gave  suck.  Then  shall  they  begin  to  say  to  the 
mountains.  Fall  on  us  ;  and  to  the  hills.  Cover  us.  For 
if  they  do  these  things  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be 
done  in  the  dry?"  No  impostor  ever  betrayed  such 
feelings  as  a  man,  nor  predicted  events  so  unHkely, 
astonishing,  and  true,  as  an  attestation  of  a  divine  com- 
mission. Jesus  revealed  the  very  judgments  of  God ; 
for  such  the  instrument,  by  whom  it  was  accomplished, 
interpreted  the  capture  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
acknowledging  that  his  own  power  would  otherwise  have 
been  ineffectual.  When  eulogized  for  the  victory,  Titus 
disclaimed  the  praise,  affirming  that  he  was  only  the  in- 
strument of  executing  the  sentence  of  the  divine  justice. 
And  their  own  historian  asserts,  in  conformity  with  every 
declaration  of  Scripture  upon  the  subject,  that  the  iniqui- 
ties of  the  Jews  were  as  unparalleled  as  their  punishment 
All  these  prophecies,  of  which  we  have  been  review- 
ing the  accomplishment,  were  delivered  in  a  time  of  per- 
6* 


66  DESTRUCTION  OF   JERUSALEM. 

feet  peace,  when  the  Jews  retained  their  own  laws,  and 
enjoyed  the  protection,  as  they  were  subject  to  the  au- 
thority, of  the  Roman  empire,  then  in  the  zenith  of  its 
power.  The  wonder  excited  in  the  minds  of  his  disci- 
ples at  the  strength  and  stability  of  the  temple,  drew 
forth  from  Jesus  the  announcement  of  its  speedy  and  utter 
ruin.  He  foretold  the  appearance  of  false  Cfhrists  and 
pretended  prophets ;  the  wars  and  rumours  of  wars ;  the 
famines  and  pestilences  and  earthquakes  and  fearful 
sights  that  were  to  ensue ;  the  persecution  of  his  disci- 
ples ;  the  apostasy  of  many ;  the  propagation  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  the  sign  that  should  warn  his  disciples  to  flee  from 
approaching  ruin ;  the  encompassing  and  enclosing  of 
Jerusalem  ;  the  grievous  affliction  of  the  tender  sex  ;  the 
unequalled  miseries  of  all ;  the  entire  destruction  of  the 
city ;  the  shortening  of  their  sufferings,  that  still  more 
might  be  saved  ;  and  that  all  this  dread  crowd  of  events, 
which  might  well  have  occupied  the  progress  of  ages, 
was  to  pass  away  within  the  limits  of  a  single  generation. 
None  but  He  who  discerns  futurity  could  have  foretold 
and  described  all  these  things ;  and  their  complete  and 
literal  fulfilment  shows  them  to  be  indubitably  the  reve- 
lation of  God. 

But  the  prophecies  also  mark  minuter  facts,  if  possible, 
more  unlikely  to  have  happened.  Jerusalem  was  to  be 
ploughed  over  as  a  field ;  to  be  laid  even  with  the 
ground  ;  of  the  temple  one  stone  was  not  to  be  left  upon 
another ;  the  Jews  were  to  be  few  in  number ;  to  be  led 
captive  into  all  nations ;  to  be  sold  for  slaves,  and  none 
would  buy  them.  And  each  of  these  predictions  was 
strictly  verified.  Titus  commanded  the  whole  city  and 
temple  to  be  razed  from  the  foundation.  The  soldiers 
were  not  then  disobedient  to  their  general.  Avarice  com- 
bined with  duty  and  with  resentment :  the  altar,  the  tem- 
ple, the  walls  and  the  city,  were  overthrown  from  the  base, 
in  search  of  the  treasures  which  the  Jews,  beset  on  every 
hand  by  plunderers,  had  concealed  and  buried  during 
the  siege.  Three  towers  and  the  remnant  of  a  wall  alone 
stood,  the  monument  and  memorial  of  Jerusalem;  and 


DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM.  67 

the  city  was  afterwards  ploughed  over  by  Terentius  Ru- 
fus.  In  the  siege,  and  in  the  previous  and  subsequent 
destruction  of  the  cities  and  villages  of  Judea,  according 
to  the  specified  enumeration  of  Josephus,  about  one  mil- 
'lion  three  hundred  thousand  suffered  death.  Ninety- 
seven  thousand  were  led  into  captivity.  They  were  sold 
for  slaves,  and  were  so  despised  and  disesteemed,  that 
many  remained  unpurchased.  And  their  conquerors 
were  so  prodigal  of  their  lives,  that,  in  honour  of  the 
birth-day  of  Domitian,  two  thousand  five  hundred  of 
them  were  placed,  in  savage  sport,  to  contend  with  wild 
beasts,  and  otherwise  to  be  put  to  death.* 

But  the  miseries  of  their  race  were  not  then  at  a  close. 
There  was  a  curse  on  the  land,  that  hath  scathed  it,  a 
judgment  on  the  people,  that  hath  scattered  them  through- 
out the  world.  Many  prophecies  respecting  them  yet 
remain  to  be  considered,  and  much  of  their  history  is  yel 
untold.  The  prophecies  are  as  clear  as  the  facts  are 
visible. 

'  Tacitus,  who  flourished  about  thirty  years  after  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  speaks  of  the  strength  of  the  fortifications  of  that 
city,  the  immense  riches  and  strength  of  the  temple,  the  factions 
that  raged  during  the  siege,  as  well  as  of  the  prodigies  that  pre- 
ceded its  fall.  And  he  particularly  mentions  .the  large  army 
brought  by  Vespasian  to  subdue  Judea,  "a  fact  which  shows  the 
magnitude  and  importance  of  the  expedition."  Philostratus  par- 
ticularly relates,  that  Titus  declared,  after  the  capture  of  Jerusa- 
lem, that  he  was  not  worthy  of  the  crown  of  victory,  as  he  had 
only  lent  his  hand  to  the  execution  of  a  work  in  which  God  was 
pleased  to  manifest  his  anger.  Dion  Cassius  records  the  conquest 
of  Judea  by  Titus  and  Vespasian,  the  obstinate  and  bloody  resist- 
ance of  the  Jews  during  the  siege,  the  destruction  of  the  temple 
by  fire.  It  is  recorded  by  Maimonides,  and  in  the  Jewish  Talmud, 
(as  cited  by  Basnage  and  Lardner,)  that  Terentius  Rufus,  an  ofli- 
cer  in  the  Roman  army,  tore  up  with  a  ploughshare  the  foundations 
of  the  temple.  The  triumphal  arch  of  Titus,  commemorative  of 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  with  figures  of  Roman  soldiers 
bearing  on  their  shoulders  the  holy  vessels  of  the  temple,  is  still 
to  be  seen  at  Rome. 


68  THE  JEWS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  THE  JEWS. 

While  Moses,  as  a  divine  legislator,  promised  to  the 
Israelites  that  their  prosperity  and  happiness  and  peace 
would  all  keep  pace  with  their  obedience,  he  threatened 
them  with  a  gradation  of  punishments,  rising  in  propor- 
tion to  their  impenitence  and  iniquity:  and  neither  in 
blessings  nor  in  chastisements  hath  the  Ruler  among  the 
nations  dealt  in  like  manner  with  any  people.  But  their 
wickedness,  and  consequent  calamities,  greatly  prepon- 
derated and  are  yet  prolonged.  The  retrospect  of  the 
history  of  the  Jews,  since  their  dispersion,  could  not,  at 
the  present  day,  be  drawn  in  truer  terms,  than  in  the 
unpropitious  auguries  of  their  prophet  above  three  thou- 
sand two  hundred  years  ago.  In  the  most  ancient  of  all 
records,  we  read  the  lively  representation  of  the  present 
condition  of  the  most  singular  people  upon  earth.  Mo- 
ses professed  to  look  through  the  glass  of  ages;  the 
revolution  of  many  centuries  has  brought  the  object 
immediately  before  us :  we  may  scrutinize  the  features 
of  futurity  as  they  then  appeared  to  his  prophetic  gaze ; 
and  we  may  determine  between  the  probabilities  whether 
they  were  conjectures  of  a  mortal  who  "  knows  not  what 
a  day  may  bring  forth,''  or  the  revelation  of  that  Being 
"  in  whose  sight  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  yesterday." 

"  I  will  scatter  you  among  the  heathen,  and  will  draw 
out  a  sword  after  you  ;  and  your  land  shall  be  desolate, 
and  your  cities  waste.  And  upon  them  that  are  left  of 
you  I  will  send  a  faintness  into  their  hearts,  in  the  lands 
of  their  enemies :  and  the  sound  of  a  shaken  leaf  shall 
chase  them ;  and  they  shall  flee,  as  fleeing  from  a  sword ; 
and  they  shall  fall  when  none  pursueth ; — and  ye  shall 
have  no  power  to  stand  before  your  enemies.  And  ye 
shall  perish  among  the  heathen,  and  the  land  of  your 


THE   JEWS.  69 

enemies  shall  eat  you  up.  And  they  that  are  left  of  you 
shall  pine  away  in  their  iniquity  in  your  enemies'  lands ; 
and  also  in  the  iniquities  of  their  fathers,  shall  they  pine 
away  with  them.  And  yet  for  all  that,  when  they  be  in 
the  land  of  their  enemies,  I  will  not  cast  them  away, 
neither  will  I  abhor  them,  to  destroy  them  utterly.^  And 
the  Lord  shall  scatter  you  among  the  nations,  and  ye 
shall  be  left  few  in  number  among  the  heathen  whither 
the  Lord  shall  lead  you.^  The  Lord  shall  cause  thee  to 
be  smitten  before  thine  enemies ;  thou  shalt  go  out  one 
way  against  them,  and  flee  seven  ways  before  them,  and 
shalt  be  removed  into  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth. » 
'I'he  Lord  shall  smite  thee  with  madness,  and  blindness, 
and  astonishment  of  heart ;  and  thou  shalt  grope  at  noon- 
day as  the  blind  gropeth  in  darkness,  and  thou  shalt  not 
prosper  in  thy  ways :  and  thou  shalt  be  only  oppressed 
and  spoiled  evermore,  and  no  man  shall  save  thee.  Thy 
sons  and  thy  daughters  shall  be  given  unto  another  peo- 
ple. There  shall  be  no  might  in  thine  hand.  The 
fruit  of  thy  land  and  all  thy  labours  shall  a  nation,  which 
thou  knowest  not,  eat  up ;  and  thou  shalt  be  only  op- 
pressed and  crushed  always ;  so  that  thou  shalt  be  mad 
for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see.  The 
Lord  shall  bring  thee  unto  a  nation  which  neither  thou 
nor  thy  fathers  have  known  ; — and  thou  shalt  become  an 
astonishment,  a  proverb,  and  a  by- word,  among  all  na- 
tions whither  the  Lord  shall  lead  thee.^  Because  thou 
servedst  not  the  Lord  thy  God  with  joyfulness  and  with 
gladness  of  heart  for  the  abundance  of  all  things ;  there- 
fore shalt  thou  serve  thine  enemies  which  the  Lord  shall 
send  against  thee,  in  hunger,  and  in  thirst,  and  in  naked- 
ness, and  in  want  of  all  things  ;  and  he  shall  put  a  yoke 
of  iron  upon  thy  neck,  until  he  have  destroyed  thee. 
And  the  Lord  will  make  thy  plagues  wonderful,  and  the 
plagues  of  thy  seed,  even  great  plagues  and  of  long  con- 
tinuance.^ All  these  curses  shall  come  upon  thee,  and 
shall  pursue  thee,  and  overtake  thee  ; — and  they  shall  be 

1  Lev.  xxvi.  33,  36—39, 44.  2  Dgut.  iv.  27.  3  Deut.  xxviii.  25. 
4  Deut.  xxviii.  28,  29,  32,  33,  36,  37.         «  Deut.  xxviii.  47,  48,  59 


70  THE  JEWS. 

Upon  thee  for  a  sign  and  for  a  wonder,  and  upon  thy 
seed  for  ever.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  as  the 
Lord  rejoiced  over  you  to  do  you  good,  and  to  multiply 
you ;  so  the  Lord  will  rejoice  over  you  to  destroy  you, 
and  to  bring  you  to  nought ;  and  ye  shall  be  plucked 
from  off  the  land  whither  thou  goest  to  possess  it.  And 
the  Lord  shall  scatter  thee  among  all  people,  from  the 
one  end  of  the  earth  even  unto  the  other.  And  among 
these  nations  shalt  thou  find  no  ease,  neither  shall  the 
sole  of  thy  foot  have  rest ;  but  the  Lord  shall  give  thee 
there  a  trembling  heart,  and  failing  of  eyes,  and  sorrow 
of  mind ;  and  thy  life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  fear  day  and  night,  and  shalt  have  none 
assurance  of  thy  life.  In  the  morning  thou  shalt  say, 
Would  God  it  were  even !  and  at  even  thou  shalt  say. 
Would  God  it  were  morning !  for  the  fear  of  thine  heart 
wherewith  thou  shalt  fear,  and  for  the  sight  of  thine 
eyes  which  thou  shalt  see."* 

The  writings  of  all  the  succeeding  prophets  abound 
with  similar  predictions.  "  I  will  cause  them  to  be 
removed  into  all  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  I  will  cast  them 
out  into  a  land  that  they  know  not,  where  I  will  show 
them  no  favour.  I  will  feed  them  with  wormwood,  and 
give  them  water  of  gall  to  drink.  I  will  scatter  them 
also  among  the  heathen,  whom  neither  they  nor  their 
fathers  have  known.^  I  will  deliver  them  to  be  removed 
into  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  for  their  hurt,  to  be  a 
reproach  and  a  proverb,  a  taunt  and  a  curse,  in  all 
places  whither  I  shall  drive  them :  and  I  will  send  the 
sword,  the  famine,  and  the  pestilence  among  them,  till 
they  be  consumed  from  off  the  land  that  I  gave  unto 
them  and  to  their  fathers.^  I  will  bereave  them  of 
children :  I  will  deliver  them  to  be  removed  to  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth,  to  be  a  curse,  and  an  astonish- 
ment, and  a  hissing,  and  a  reproach,  among  all  the 
nations  whither  I  have  driven  them.'*  I  will  execute 
judgments  in  thee,  and  the  whole  remnant  of  thee  will 

»  Deut.  xxviii.  45, 46,  63—67.      2  Jer.  xv.  4,  xvi.  13,  ix.  15, 16. 
'  Jer.  xxiv.  9,  10.  ^  jer.  xv.  7,  xxix.  18. 


THE   JEWS.  71 

I  scatter  into  all  the  winds.*  I  will  scatter  them  among 
the  nations,  and  disperse  them  in  the  countries.^  They 
shall  cast  their  silver  in  the  streets,  and  their  gold  shall 
be  removed ;  their  silver  and  their  gold  shall  not  be 
able  to  deliver  them  in  the  day  of  the  wrath  of  the 
Lord  ;  they  shall  not  satisfy  their  souls,  neither  fill  their 
bowels,  because  it  is  the  stumbling-block  of  their 
iniquity.^  I  will  sift  the  house  of  Israel  among  all 
nations,  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve,  yet  shall  not 
the  least  grain  fall  upon  the  earth.  Death  shall  be 
chosen  rather  than  life  by  all  the  residue  of  them  that 
remain  of  this  evil  family,  which  remain  in  all  the  places 
whither  I  have  driven  them,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
They  shall  be  wanderers  among  the  nations.''  Make 
the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  and  make  their  ears  heavy, 
and  shut  their  eyes  ;  lest  they  see  with  their  eyes,  and 
hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand  with  their  heart, 
and  convert  and  be  healed.  Then  said  I,  Lord,  how 
long?  And  he  answered.  Until  the  cities  be  wasted 
without  inhabitant,  and  the  houses  without  man,  and 
the  land  be  utterly  desolate,  and  the  Lord  have  removed 
men  far  away,  and  there  be  a  great  forsaking  in  the 
midst  of  the  land.^  Though  they  go  into  captivity 
before  their  enemies,  thence  will  I  command  the  sword, 
and  it  shall  slay  them ;  and  I  will  set  mine  eyes  upon 
them  for  evil,  and  not  for  good.  But  he  that  scattereth 
Israel  will  gather  him  and  keep  him.^  But  fear  not 
thou,  0  my  servant  Jacob,  and  be  not  dismayed,  O 
Israel ;  for,  behold,  I  will  save  thee  from  afar  off,  and 
thy  seed  from  the  land  of  their  captivity. — I  will  make 
a  full  end  of  all  the  nations  whither  I  have  driven  thee ; 
but  I  will  not  make  a  full  end  of  thee,  but  correct  thee 
in  measure  ;  yet  will  I  not  utterly  cut  thee  off,  or  leave 
thee  wholly  unpunished.'^  The  children  of  Israel  shall 
abide  many  days  without  a  king,  and  without  a  prince, 
and  without  a  sacrifice,  and  without  an  image,  and  with- 

>  Ezck.  V.  10.  2  Ezek.  xii.  15.  3  Ezek.  vii.  19. 

'^  Amos  ix.  9 ;  Jer,  viii.  3 ;  Hos.  ix.  17.  *  Isa.  vi.  10—12. 

.    6  Amos  ix.  4 ;  Jer.  xxxi.  10.  ^  Jer.  xlvi.  27,  28. 


^72  THE  JEWS. 

out  an  ephod,  and  without  a  teraphim.  Afterward  shal; 
the  children  of  Israel  return,  and  seek  the  Lord  theii 
God,  and  David  their  king  ;  and  shall  fear  the  Lord  and 
his  goodness  in  the  latter  days."'' 

All  these  predictions  respecting  the  Jews  are  delivered 
with  the  clearness  of  history  and  the  confidence  of  truth, 
They  represent  the  manner,  the  extent,  the  nature,  and  the 
continuance  of  their  dispersion';  their  persecutions,  their 
blindness,  their  sufferings,  their  feebleness,  their  fearful- 
ness,  their  pusillanimity,  their  ceaseless  wanderings,  their 
hardened  impenitence,  their  insatiable  avarice,  and  the 
grievous  oppression,  the  continued  spoliation,  the  marked 
distinction,  the  universal  mockery,  the  unextinguishable 
existence,  and  unlimited  diffusion  of  their  race.  They 
were  to  be  plucked  from  off  their  own  land^  smitten  before 
their  enemies^  consumed  from  off  t/ieir  own  land,  and 
left  few  in  number.  The  Romans  destroyed  their  cities 
and  ravaged  their  country ;  and  the  inhabitants  who 
escaped  from  the  famine,  the  pestilence,  the  sword,  and 
the  captivity,  were  forcibly  expelled  from  Judea,  and 
fled,  as  houseless  wanderers,  into  all  the  surrounding 
regions.  But  they  clung,  for  a  time,  around  the  land 
which  their  fathers  had  possessed  for  so  many  ages,  and 
on  w^hich  they  looked  as  an  inheritance  allotted  by 
Heaven  to  their  race ;  and  they  would  not  relinquish 
their  claim  to  the  possession  of  it  by  any  single  over- 
throw, however  great.  Unparalleled  as  were  the 
miseries  which  they  had  suffered  in  the  slaughter  of  their 
kindred,  the  loss  of  their  property  and  their  homes,  the 
annihilation  of  their  power,  the  destruction  of  their 
capital  city,  and  the  devastation  of  their  country  by 
Titus ;  yet  the  fugitive  and  exiled  Jews  soon  resorted 
again  to  their  native  soil ;  and  sixty  years  had  scarcely 
elapsed,  when,  deceived  by  an  impostor,  allured  by  the 
hope  of  a  triumphant  Messiah,  and  excited  to  revolt  by 
intolerable  oppression,  they  strove  by  a  vigorous  and 
united  but  frantic  effort  to  reconquer  Judea,  to  cast  off 
the  power  of  the  Romans,  which  had  everywhere 
'  Hosea  iii.  4,  5. 


THE   JEWS.  73 

crushed  them,  and  to  rescue  themselves  and  their  coun- 
try from  ruin.  A  war  which  their  enthusiasm  and 
desperation  aUke  protracted  for  two  years,  and  in  which, 
exclusive  of  a  vast  number  that  perished  by  famine  and 
sickness  and  fire,  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
Jews  are  said  to  have  been  slain,  terminated  in  their 
entire  discomfiture  and  final  banishment.  They  were 
so  beset  on  every  side,  and  cut  down  in  detached  por- 
tions by  the  Roman  soldiers,  that,  in  the  words  of  a 
heathen  historian,  very  few  of  them  escaped.  Fifty  of 
their  strongholds  were  razed  from  the  ground,  and  their 
cities  sacked  and  consumed  by  fire ;  Judea  was  laid 
waste  and  left  as  a  desert.^  Though  a  similar  fate  never 
befell  any  other  people  without  proving  the  extirpation 
of  their  race  or  the  last  of  their  miseries,  that  awful 
prediction,  in  its  reference  to  the  Jews,  met  its  full 
completion,  which  yet  they  survive,  to  await  in  every 
country,  when  exiles  from  their  own,  an  accumulation 
of  almost  unceasing  calamities,  protracted  throughout 
many  succeeding  ages.  The  cities  shall  he  wasted  with- 
out inhabitant.  Every  city  shall  he  forsaken,  and  not  a 
man  dwell  therein.  They  were  rooted  out  of  their  land 
in  anger,  and  in  wrath,  and  in  great  indignation.^  A 
pubHc  edict  of  the  emperor  Adrian  rendered  it  a  capital 
crime  for  a  Jew  to  set  a  foot  in  Jerusalem  ;^  and  pro- 
hibited them  from  viewing  it  even  at  a  distance.  Hea- 
thens, Christians,  and  Mahometans  have  alternately 
possessed  Judea.  It  has  been  a  prey  of  the  Saracens  : 
the  descendants  of  Ishmael  have  often  overrun  it :  the 
children  of  Israel  have  alone  been  denied  the  possession 
of  it,  though  thither  they  ever  wish  to  return,  and  though 
it  forms  the  only  spot  on  earth  where  the  ordinances  of 
their  religion  can  be  observed.  And,  amidst  all  the 
revolutions  of  states,  and  the  extinction  of  many  nations, 

'  Dion  Cassius,  lib.  Ixix.     Jackson,  Patrick,  Basnage,  &c. 

2  Isaiah  vi.  11 ;  Jer.  iv.  29  ;  Deut.  xxix.  28. 

3  Tertul.  Ap.  c.  xxi.  p.  51 ;  Ibid.  Adv.  Judosos,  c.  xiii.  p.  146, 
ed.  Paris,  1608.  Basnage's  Continuation  of  Josephus,  b.  vi. 
c.  9,  §  27. 

7 


74  THE  JEWS. 

in  so  long  a  period,  the  Jews  alone  have  not  only  ever 
been  aliens  in  the  land  of  their  fathers,  but  whenever 
any  of  them  have  been  permitted,  at  any  period  since 
the  time  of  their  dispersion,  to  sojourn  there,  they  have 
experienced  even  more  contumelious  treatment  than 
elsewhere.  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  who  travelled  in  the 
twelfth  century  through  great  part  of  Europe  and  of  Asia, 
tbund  the  Jews  everywhere  oppressed,  particularly  in 
Jhe  Holy  Land.  And  to  this  day,  (while  the  Jews  who 
.•eside  in  Palestine,  or  who  resort  thither  in  old  age,  that 
cheir  bones  may  not  be  laid  in  a  foreign  land,  are  alike 
ill-treated  and  abused  by  Greeks,  Armenians,  and  Eu- 
ropeans,*) the  haughty  deportment  of  the  despotic  Mus- 
sulman, and  the  abject  state  of  the  poor  and  helpless 
Jews,  are  painted  to  the  life  by  the  prophet.  The 
stranger  that  is  within  thee  shall  get  up  above  thee  very 
high,  and  thou  shall  come  down  very  low.^ 

But  the  extent  is  still  more  remarkable  than  the  man- 
ner of  their  dispersion.  Many  prophecies  describe  it, 
and  foretold,  thousands  of  years  ago,  what  we  now  be- 
hold. They  have  been  scattered  among  the  nations — 
among  the  heathen — among  the  people^  even  from  one  end 
of  the  earth  unto  the  other.  They  have  been  removed  into 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  ;  the  whole  remnant  of  them 
has  been  scattered  into  all  the  winds :  they  have  been  dis- 
persed throughout  all  countries,  and  sfted  among  the 
nations  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve,  and  yet  not  the 
least  grain  has  fallen  upon  the  earth:  though  dispersed 
throughout  all  nations,  they  have  remained  distinct  from 
them  all.  And  there  is  not  a  country  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  where  the  Jews  are  unknown.  They  are  found 
alike  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  They  are 
citizens  of  the  world,  without  a  country.  Neither  moun- 
tains, nor  rivers,  nor  deserts,  nor  oceans,  which  are  the 
boundaries  of  other  nations,  have  terminated  their  wan- 
derings. They  abound  in  Poland,  in  Holland,  in  Russia, 
and  in  Turkey.  In  Germany,  Spain,  Italy,  France,  and 
Britain,   they   are   more   thinly   scattered.      In  Persia, 

'  General  Straton's  MS.  Journal.  ^  Deut.  xxviii.  43. 


THE   JEWS.  ^O 

China,  and  India,  on  the  east  and  on  the  west  of  the 
Ganges,  they  are  few  in  number  among  the  heathen. 
They  have  trod  the  snows  of  Siberia,  and  the  sands  of 
the  burning  desert ;  and  the  European  traveller  hears  of 
their  existence  in  regions  which  he  cannot  reach,  even 
in  the  very  interior  of  Africa,  south  of  Timbuctoo.* 
From  Moscow  to  Lisbon,  from  Japan  to  Britain,  from 
Borneo  to  Archangel,  from  Hindostan  to  Honduras,  no 
inhabitant  of  any  nation  upon  the  earth  would  be  known 
in  all  the  intervening  regions  but  a  Jew  alone. 

But  the  history  of  the  Jews  throughout  the  whole 
world,  and  in  every  age  since  their  dispersion,  verifies 
the  most  minute  predictions  concerning  them  ;  and  to  a 
recital  of  facts,  too  well  authenticated  to  admit  of  dis- 
pute, or  too  notorious  for  contradiction,  may  be  added 
a  description  of  them  all  in  the  very  terms  of  the  pro- 
phecy. In  the  words  of  Basnage,  the  elaborate  historian 
of  the  Jews,  "  Kings  have  often  employed  the  severity 
of  their  edicts,  and  the  hands  of  the  executioner,  to 
destroy  them ;  the  seditious  multitude  has  performed 
massacres  and  executions  infinitely  more  tragical  than 
the  princes.  Both  kings  and  people,  heathens.  Christians, 
and  Mahometans,  who  are  opposite  in  so  many  things, 
have  united  in  the  design  of  ruining  this  nation,  and 
have  not  been  able  to  effect  it.  The  bush  of  Moses, 
surrounded  with  flames,  has  always  burnt  without  con- 
suming. The  Jews  have  been  driven  from  all  places 
of  the  world,  which  has  only  served  to  disperse  them  in 
all  parts  of  the  universe.  They  have,  from  age  to  age, 
run  through  misery  and  persecution,  and  torrents  of  their 
own  blood. "^  Their  banishment  from  Judea  was  only 
the  prelude  to  their  expulsion  from  city  to  city,  and 
from  kingdom  to  kingdom.  Their  dispersion  over  the 
globe  is  an  irrefragable  evidence  of  this,  and  many  re- 
cords remain  that  amply  corroborate  the  fact.     Not  only 

did  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  the  Christian  era 
• 

'  Lyon's  Travels  in  Africa,  p.  146. 

'^  Basnage,  b.  vi.  c.  i.  §  1 ;  Jortin's  Remarks  on  Eccl.  Hist.  vol. 
ii.  p.  181,  &c. 


7(J  THE   JEWS. 

see  them  twice  rooted  out  of  their  own  land,  but  each 
succeeding  century  has  teemed  with  new  calamities  to 
that  once  chosen  but  now  long-rejected  race.  The  his- 
tory of  their  sufferings  is  a  continued  tale  of  horror. 
Revolt  is  natural  to  the  oppressed ;  and  their  frequent 
seditions  were  productive  of  renewed  privations  and  dis- 
tresses. Emperors,  kings,  and  caliphs  all  united  in  sub- 
jecting them  to  the  same  "  iron  yoke.''  Constantine, 
after  having  suppressed  a  revolt  which  they  raised,  and 
having  commanded  their  ears  to  be  cut  off,  dispersed 
them  as  fugitives  and  vagabonds  into  different  countries, 
whither  they  carried,  in  terror  to  their  kindred,  the  mark 
of  their  suffering  and  infamy.  In  the  fifth  century  they 
were  expelled  from  Alexamdria,  which  had  long  been 
one  of  their  safest  places  of  resort.  Justinian,  from 
whose  principles  of  legislation  a  wiser  and  more  hu- 
mane policy  ought  to  have  emanated,  yielded  to  none 
of  his  predecessors  in  hostility  and  severity  ag*ainst 
them.  He  abolished  their  synagogues,  prohibited  them 
even  from  entering  into  caves  for  the  exercise  of  their 
worship,  rendered  their  testimony  inadmissible,  and  de- 
prived them  of  the  natural  right  of  bequeathing  their 
property :  and  when  such  oppressive  enactments  led  to 
insurrectionary  movements  among  the  Jews,  their  pro- 
perty was  confiscated,  many  of  them  were  beheaded, 
and  so  bloody  an  execution  of  them  prevailed,  that,  eis 
is  expressly  related,  "  all  the  Jews  of  that  country  trem- 
bled ;"^  a  trembling  heart  was  given  them.  In  the  reign 
of  the  tyremt  Phocas,  a  general  sedition  broke  out  among 
the  Jews  in  Syria.  They  and  their  enemies  fought  with 
equal  desperation.  They  obtained  the  mastery  in  An- 
tioch ;  but  a  momentary  victory  only  led  to  a  deeper 
humiliation,  and  to  the  infliction  of  more  aggravated 
cruelties  than  before.  They  were  soon  subdued  and 
taken  captive ;  many  of  them  were  maimed,  otliers  exe- 
cuted, and  all  the  survivors  were  banished  from  the 
city.  Gregory  the  Great  afforded  them  a  temporary 
respite  fi-om  oppression,  which  only  rendered  their 
'  Basnags's  Hist.  b.  v^i.  c.  xxi.  §  9. 


THE   JEWS.  77 

spoliation  more  complete,  and  their  suffeiing  more  acute, 
under  the  cruel  oppression  of  Heraclius.  That  emperor, 
unable  to  satiate  his  hatred  against  them  by  inflicting  a 
variety  of  punishments  on  those  who  resided  within  his 
own  dominions,  and  by  finally  expeUing  them  from  the 
'empire,  exerted  so  effectually  against  them  his  influence 
in  other  countries,  that  they  suffered  under  a  general  and 
simultaneous  persecution  from  Asia  to  the  furthest  ex- 
tremities of  Europe/  In  Spain,  -conversion,  imprison- 
ment, or  banishment,  were  their  only  alternatives.  In 
France,  a  similar  fate  awaited  them.  They  fled  from 
country  to  country,  seeking  in  vain  any  rest  for  the  sole 
of  their  foot.  Even  the  wide-extended  plains  of  Asia 
afforded  them  no  resting-place,  but  have  often  been 
spotted  with  their  blood,  as  well  as  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  Europe.  Mahomet,  whose  imposture  has  been  the 
law  and  the  faith  of  such  countless  millions,  has,  from 
the  precepts  of  the  Koran,  infused  into  the  minds  of  his 
followers  a  spirit  of  rancour  and  enmity  towards  the 
despised  and  misbeUeving  Jews.  He  set  an  early  ex- 
ample of  persecution  against  them,  which  the  Mahome- 
tans have  not  yet  ceased  to  imitate.  In  the  third  year 
of  the  Hegira,  he  besieged  the  castles  which  they  pos- 
sessed in  the  Hegiasa,  compelled  those  who  had  fled  to 
them  for  refuge  and  defence  to  an  unconditional  surren- 
der, banished  them  the  country,  and  parted  their  pro- 
perty among  his  Mussulmans.  He  dissipated  a  second 
time  their  recombined  strength,  massacred  many  of 
them,  and  imposed  upon  the  remnant  a  permanent  tri- 
bute. The  church  of  Rome  ever  ranked  and  treated 
them  as  heretics.  The  canons  of  different  councils  pro- 
nounced excommunication  against  those  who  should 
favour  or  uphold  the  Jews  against  Christians  ;  enjoined 
all  Christians  neither  to  eat  nor  to  hold  any  commerce 
with  them ;  prohibited  them  from  bearing  public  oflSces 
or  having  Christian  slaves ;  appointed  them  to  be  dis- 
tinguished by  a  mark;  decreed  that  their  children  should 
be  taken  from  them,  and  brought  up  in  monasteries ; 
'  Basnage's  Hist.  b.  vi.  c.  xxi.  §  17. 
7* 


78  THE   JEWS. 

and,  what  is  equally  descriptive  of  the  low  estimation  ir 
which  they  were  held,  and  of  the  miseries  to  which  they 
were  subjected,  there  was  often  a  necessity,  even  for 
those  who  otherwise  oppressed  them,  to  ordain  that  it 
was  not  lawful  to  take  the  life  of  a  Jew  without  any 
cause.*  Hallaun's  account  of  the  Jews,  during  the  mid- 
dle £iges,  is  short,  but  significant.  "  They  were  every- 
where the  objects  of  popular  iriSult  and  oppression,  fre- 
quently of  a  general  massacre.  A  time  of  festivity  to 
others  was  often  the  season  of  mockery  and  persecution 
to  them.  It  was  the  custom  at  Thoulouse  to  smite  them 
on  the  face  every  Easter.  At  Beziers  they  were  at- 
tacked with  stones  from  Palm-Sunday  to  Easter,  an 
anniversary  of  insult  and  cruelty  generally  productive 
of  bloodshed,  and  to  which  the  populace  were  regu- 
larly instigated  by  a  sermon  from  the  bishop.  It 
was  the  policy  of  the  kings  of  France  to  employ 
them  as  a  sponge  to  suck  their  subjects'  money,  which 
they  might  afterwards  express  with  less  odium  than 
direct  taxation  would  incur.  It  is  almost  incredible 
to  what  a  length  extortion  of  money  from  the  Jews 
was  carried.  A  series  of  alternate  persecution  and 
tolertmce  was  borne  by  this  extraordinary  people  with 
an  invincible  perseverance,  and  a  talent  of  accumu- 
lating riches,  which  kept  pace  with  the  exactions  of 
their  plunderers.  Philip  Augustus  released  all  Chris- 
tians in  his  dominions  from  their  debts  to  the  Jews, 
reserving  a  fifth  part  to  himself.  He  afterwards  expelled 
the  whole  nation  from  France."^  St.  Louis  twice  ba- 
nished, and  twice  recalled  them  ;  and  Charles  VI.  finally 
expelled  them  from  France.  From  that  country,  ac- 
cording to  Mezeray,  they  were  seven  times  banished. 
They  were  expelled  from  Spain ;  and  by  the  lowest 
computation,  one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  fami- 

•  Dupin^s  Ecc.  Hist.  Canons  of  different  councils;  Toledo,  a.,  v. 
633 ;  Meaux,  845 ;  Paris,  846 ;  Pavia,  850 ;  Metz,  Coyaco,  1050 ; 
Rouen,  1074;  Ravenna,  1311;  Saltzburgh,  1420. 

2  Hallam,  vol.  i.  pp.  233,  234. 


THE  JEWS.  79 

lies  departed  from  that  kingdom.^  "  At  Verdun,  Treves, 
Mentz,  Spires,  Worms,  many  thousands  of  them  were 
pillaged  and  massacred.  A  remnant  was  saved  by  a 
feigned  and  transient  conversion  ;  but  the  greater  part 
of  them  barricaded  their  houses,  and  precipitated  them- 
selves, their  families,  and  their  wealth,  into  the  rivers  or 
the  flames.  These  massacres  and  depredations  on  the 
Jew^s  were  renewed  at  each  crusade."^  In  England, 
also,  they  suffered  great  cruelty  and  oppression  at  the 
same  period.  During  the  crusades,  the  whole  nation 
united  in  the  persecution  of  them.  In  a  single  instance 
at  York,  fifteen  hundred  Jews,  including  women  and 
children,  were  refused  all  quarter,  could  not  purchase 
their  lives  at  any  price,  and,  frantic  with  despair,  perished 
by  a  mutual  slaughter.  Each  master  was  the  murderer 
of  his  family,  when  death  became  their  only  deliverance. 
The  scene  of  the  castle  of  Massada,  which  was  their  last 
fortress  in  Palestine,  and  where  nearly  one  thousand 
perished  in  a  similar  manner,^  was  renewed  in  the  castle 
of  York.  So  despised  and  hated  were  they,  that  the 
barons,  when  contending  with  Henry  III.,  to  ingratiate 
themselves  with  the  populace,  ordered  seven  hundred 
Jews  to  be  slaughtered  at  once,  their  houses  to  be  plun- 
dered, and  their  synagogue  to  be  burned.  Richard, 
John,  and  Henry  III.  often  extorted  money  from  them  ; 
and  the  last,  by  the  most  unscrupulous  and  unsparing 
measures,  usually  defrayed  his  extraordinary  expenses 
with  their  spoils,  and  impoverished  some  of  the  richest 
among  them.^  His  extortions  at  last  became  so  enor- 
mous, and  his  oppression  so  grievous,  that,  in  the  words 
of  the  historian,  he  reduced  the  miserable  wretches  to 
desire  leave  to  depart  the  kingdom  ;*  but  even  self-ba- 
nishment was  denied  them.  Edward  I.  completed  their 
misery,  seized  on  all  their  property,  and  banished  them 

1  Basnage,  b.  vii.  c.  xxi.  Bishop  Newton, 

2  Gibbon's  Hist.  vol.  xi.  c.  Iviii.  p.  26. 

3  Basnage,  b.  vii.  c.  x.  sect.  20  ;  Joseph,  b.  vii.  c.  viii  ix.    Bp. 
Newton  ;  Rapin's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  97. 

*  Rapin's  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  405. 


^0  THE   JEWS. 

the  kingdom.  Above  fifteen  thousand  Jews  were  render, ?.d 
destitute  of  any  residence,  were  despoiled  to  the  utmost, 
and  reduced  to  ruin.  Nearly  four  centuries  elapsed 
before  the  return  to  Britain  of  this  abused  race. 

Some  remarkable  circumstances  attest,  without  a  pro- 
longed detail  of  their  miseries,  that  they  have  been  a 
people  everywhere  peculiarly  oppressed.  The  first  un- 
equivocal attempt  at  legislatioft  in  France  was  an  ordi- 
nance against  the  Jews.  And  towards  them  alone  one 
of  the  noblest  charters  of  liberty  on  earth — Magna  Charta, 
the  Briton's  boast — legalized  an  act  of  injustice.*  For 
many  ages  after  their  dispersion,  they  found  no  resting- 
place  in  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa,  but  penetrated,  in  search 
of  one,  to  the  extremities  of  the  world.  In  Mahometan 
countries  they  have  ever  been  subject  to  persecution, 
contempt,  and  every  abuse.  They  are  in  general  con- 
fined to  one  particular  quarter  of  every  city,  (as  they  for- 
merly were  to  old  Jewry  in  London  ;)  they  are  restricted 
to  a  peculiar  dress  ;  and  in  many  places  are  shut  up  at 
stated  hours.  In  Hamadan,  as  in  all  parts  of  Persia, 
"  they  are  an  abject  race,  and  support  themselves  by 
driving  a  peddling  trade  ; — they  Uve  in  a  state  of  great 
misery,  pay  a  monthly  tax  to  the  government,  and  are 
not  permitted  to  cultivate  the  ground,  or  to  have  landed 
possessions."^  They  cannot  appear  in  public,  much  less 
perform  their  religious  ceremonies,  without  being  treated 
with  scorn  and  contempt.^  The  revenues  of  the  prince 
of  Bokhara  are  derived  from  a  tribute  paid  by  five  hun- 
dred families  of  Jews,  who  are  assessed  according  to  the 
means  of  each.  In  Zante  they  exist  in  miserable  indi- 
gence, and  are  exposed  to  considerable  oppression."*  At 
Tripoli,  when  any  criminal  is  condemned  to  death,  the 
first  Jew  who  happens  to  be  at  hand  is  compelled  to 
become  the  executioner ;  a  degradation  to  the  children 
of  Israel  to  which  no  Moor  is  ever  subjected.*     In  Egypt 

'  Articles  xii.  xiii. 

*  Morier's  Travels  in  Persia,  p.  379. 

3  Sir  J.  Malcolm's  History  of  Persia,  vol.  ii.  p.  425. 

*  Hughes'  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  150.  *  Lyon's  Travels,  p.  16. 


THE   JEWS.  81 

they  are  despised  and  persecuted  incessantly/  In  Arabia 
they  are  treated  with  more  contempt  than  in  Turkey.^ 
The  remark  is  common  to  the  most  recent  travellers  both 
•in  Asia  and  Africa,^  that  the  Jews  themselves  are  asto- 
nished, and  the  natives  indignant,  at  any  act  of  kindness, 
or  even  of  justice,  that  is  performed  towards  any  of  this 
"  despised  nation"  and  persecuted  people.  In  Southey's 
Letters  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  this  remarkable  testi- 
mony is  borne  respecting  them ;  "  Till  within  the  last 
fifty  years  the  burning  of  a  Jew  formed  the  highest  de- 
light of  the  Portuguese ;  they  thronged  to  behold  this 
triumph  of  the  faith,  and  the  very  women  shouted  with 
transport  as  they  saw  the  agonized  martyr  writhe  at  the 
stake.  Neither  sex  nor  age  could  save  this  persecuted 
race  ;  and  Antonio  Joseph  de  Silvia,  the  best  of  their 
dramatic  writers,  was  burned  alive  because  he  was  a 
Jew."  Few  years  have  elapsed  since  there  was  a  se- 
vere persecution  against  them  in  Prussia  and  in  Germany, 
and  in  several  of  the  smaller  states  of  the  latter  country 
they  are  not  permitted  to  sell  any  goods  even  in  the 
common  markets.  The  pope  has  lately  re-enacted  some 
severe  edicts  against  them :  and  ukases  have  recently 
been  issued  in  quick  succession,^  restraining  the  Jews 
from  all  traffic  throughout  the  interior  government  of 
Russia.  They  are  absolutely  prohibited,  on  pain  of 
immediate  banishment,  from  "  offering  any  article  to 
sale,"^  whether  in  public  or  private,  either  by  themselves 
or  by  others.  They  are  not  allowed  to  reside,  even  for 
a  limited  period,  in  any  of  the  cities  of  Russia,  without 
an  express  permission  from  government,  which  is  granted 
only  in  cases  where  their  services  are  necessary  or  directly 

1  Denon's  Travels  in  Egypt,  vol.  i.  p.  213. 

2  Niebuhr's  Travels,  vol",  i.  p.  408. 

3  Morier's  Travels  in  Persia,  p.  266  •  Lyon's  Travels  in  Africa, 
p.  32. 

4  1 6th  November,  1797.     25th  February,  1823.     8th  June,  1826. 
(August  or  November)  1827. 

*  Ukase,  quoted  from  "The  World,"  of  date  31st  October,  1827 
lb.  article  viii. 


82  THE  JEWS. 

beneficial  to  the  state.  A  refusal  to  depart,  when  they 
become  obnoxious  to  so  rigid  a  law,  subjects  them  to  be 
treated  as  vagi*ants ;  and  none  are  suffered  to  protect  or 
to  shelter  them.  Though  the  observance  of  such  edicts 
must,  in  numerous  instances,  leave  them  destitute  of  any 
means  of  support,  yet  their  breach  or  neglect  exposes 
them  to  oppression  under  the  sanction  of  the  law,  and  to 
every  privation  and  insult,  without  remedy  or  appeal. 
And  though  they  may  thus  become  the  greatest  objects 
of  pity,  all  laws  of  humanity  are  reversed  by  imperial 
decrees  towards  them.  For  those  who  harbour  Jews 
that  are  condemned  to  banishment  for  having  done  what 
all  others  may  innocently  do,  are,  as  the  last  Russian 
ukase  respecting  them  bears,  "  amenable  to  the  laws  as 
the  abettors  of  vagrants,"  and,  as  in  numberless  instances 
besides,  no  man  shall  save  them. 

While  the  recent  ameliorated  condition  of  the  Jews 
in  the  more  civilized  countries  of  Europe  begins  to  give 
promise  of  the  dawn  of  that  day  when  the  cup  of  trem- 
bling shall  be  taken  out  of  their  hands,  and  while  signs 
are  not  wanting  to  show  that  it  shall  be  given  into  the 
hands  of  their  enemies,  new  illustrations  may  still  be 
adduced  to  this  hour  of  the  indignities  and  miseries  to 
which  they  are  subjected.  The  latest  testimony  from 
Turkey  bears  that  "  it  is  impossible  to  express  the  con- 
temptuous hatred  in  which  the  Osmanlis  (Turks)  hold 
the  Jewish  people  ;  and  the  veriest  Turkish  urchin  who 
may  encounter  one  of  the  fallen  nation  on  his  path,  has 
his  mite  of  insult  to  add  to  the  degradation  of  the  out- 
cast and  wandering  race  of  Israel.  Nor  dare  the  op- 
pressed party  revenge  himself  even  upon  this  puny 
enemy,  whom  his  very  name  suffices  to  raise  up  against 
him."*  Instances  are  added  of  a  Turkish  boy  of  ten 
years  of  age  felling  to  the  earth  a  feeble  Jewess,  and  of 
Turkish  boys,  in  their  amusements,  insulting  and  tor- 
menting a  Jew.     /  will  give  children  to  be  tJieir  princes , 

'  The  City  of  the  Sultan,  and  the  Domestic  Manners  of  the 
Turks  in  1836,  by  Miss  Pardoe,  vol.  ii.  p.  362,  363. 


THE   JEWS.  83 

and  babes  shall  rule  over  them.  Ms  for  my  people,  child- 
ren are  their  oppressors  ^ 

These  facts,  though  they  form  but  a  brief  and  most 
imperfect  record,  and  therefore  but  a  very  faint  image  of 
all  their  sufferings,  show  that  the  Jews  have  been  removed 
into  all  kingdoms  for  their  hurt ;  that  a  sword  has  been 
drawn  after  them ;  that  they  have  found  no  rest  for  the 
sole  of  their  foot ;  that  they  have  not  been  able  to  stand 
before  their  enemies;  there  has  been  no  might  in  their 
hands ;  their  very  avarice  has  proved  their  misery ;  they 
have  been  spoiled  evermore  ;  they  have  been  oppressed  and 
crushed  alway ;  they  have  been  mad  for  the  sight  of  their 
eyes  that  they  did  see,  as  the  tragical  scenes  at  Massada, 
and  York,  and  many  others  testify :  they  have  often  been 
left  in  hunger,  and  thirst,  and  nakedness,  and  in  want  of 
all  things  ;  a  trembling  heart  and  sorrow  of  mind  have 
been  their  portion  ;  they  have  often  had  none  assurance  of 
their  life ;  their  plagues  have  been  wonderful  and  great, 
and  of  long  continuance  ;  and  they  have  been  for  a  sign 
and  for  a  wonder  during  many  generations. 

But  the  predictions  rest  not  even  here.  It  was  dis- 
tinctly prophesied  that  the  Jews  would  reject  the  gospel; 
that,  from  the  meanness  of  his  mortal  appearance,  and 
the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  they  would  not  believe  in  a 
suffering  Messiah  ;  that  they  would  be  smitten  with  blind- 
ness and  astonishment  of  heart ;  that  they  would  continue 
long,  having  their  ears  deaf,  their  eyes  closed,  and  their 
hearts  hardened  ;  and  that  they  would  grope  at  noon-day, 
as  the  blind  gropeth  in  darkness.^  And  the  great  body  of 
the  Jewish  nation  has  continued  long  to  reject  Christian- 
ity. They  retain  the  prophecies,  but  discern  not  their 
light,  having  obscured  them  by  their  traditions.  Many 
of  their  received  opinions  are  so  absurd  and  impious, 
their  rites  are  so  unmeaning  and  frivolous,  their  ceremo- 
nies are  so  minute,  absurd,  and  contemptible,  that  the 
account  of  them  would  surpass  credibility,  were  it  not  a 
transcript  of  their  customs  and  of  their  manners,  and 

»  Isa.  iii.  4,  12.  2  Deut.  xxviii.  29. 


84  THE  JEWS. 

drawn  from  their  own  authorities.'  No  words  can  more 
strikingly  or  justly  represent  the  contrast  between  their 
irrational  tenets,  their  degraded  religion,  their  supersti- 
tious observances,  and  the  dictates  of  enlightened  reason, 
and  of  the  gospel  which  they  vilify,  than  the  emphatic 
description,  l^twy  grope  at  noon-day,  as  tlie  blind  gropeth 
in  darkness.  And  if  any  other  instances  be  wanting  of 
the  prediction  of  events  infinitely  exceeding  human  fore- 
sight, the  dispositions  of  all  nations  respecting  them  are 
revealed  as  explicitly  as  their  own.  That  the  Jews  have 
been  a  proverb,  an  astonishment,  a  by-word,  a  taunt,  and 
a  hissing  among  all  nations, — though  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  of  facts,  unparalleled  in  the  whole  history  of 
mankind,  and  as  inconceivable  in  its  prediction  as  miracu- 
lous in  its  accoipplishment, — is  a  truth  that  stands  not  in 
need  of  any  illustration  or  proof,  and  of  which  witnesses 
could  be  found  in  every  country  under  heaven.  Many 
prophecies  concerning  the  Jews,  of  more  propitious  im- 
port, that  yet  remain  to  be  accomplished,  are  reserved  for 
testimonies  to  future  generations,  if  not  to  the  present.^ 
But  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  as  prophesied  concerning 
them,  that  they  have  not  been  utterly  destroyed,  though  a 
full  end  has  been  made  of  their  enemies  ;  that  the  Egyp- 
tians, the  Assyrians,  the  Babylonians,  the  Romans,  though 
some  of  the  mightiest  monarchies  that  ever  existed,  have 
not  a  single  representative  on  earth ;  while  the  Jews, 
oppressed  and  vanquished,  banished  and  enslaved,  and 
spoiled  evermore,  have  survived  them  all,  and  to  this 
hour  overspread  the  world.  Of  all  the  nations  around 
Judea,  the  Persians  alone,  who  restored  them  from  the 
Babylonish  captivity,  yet  remain  a  kingdom. 

The  Scriptures  also  declare  that  the  covenant  with 
Abraham,  that  God  would  give  the  land  of  Canaan  to 
his  seed  for  an  everlasting  possession,  would  never  be 
broken ;  but  that  the  children  of  Israel  shall  be  taken 
from  among  the  heathen,  gathered  on  every  side,  and 

»  See  Allen's  Modem  Judaism.  The  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia, 
art.  Jews. 

'  See  Appendix,  No.  II. 


THE  JEWS.  85 

brought  into  their  own  land,  to  dwell  forever  where  their 
fathers  dwelt.  Three  thousand  seven  hundred  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  promise  was  given  to  Abraham :  and 
is  it  less  than  a  miracle,  that,  if  this  promise  had  been 
made  to  the  descendants  of  any  but  of  Abraham  alone, 
it  could  not  now  possibly  have  been  realized,  as  there 
exists  not  on  earth  the  known  and  acknowledged  pos- 
terity of  any  other  individual,  or  almost  of  any  nation, 
contemporary  with  him  ? 

That  the  people  of  a  single  state  (which  was  of  very 
limited  extent  and  power  in  comparison  of  some  of  the 
monarchies  which  surrounded  it)  should  first  have  been 
rooted  up  out  of  their  own  land  in  anger,  wrath,  and 
great  indignation,  the  like  of  which  was  never  expe- 
rienced by  the  mightiest  among  the  ancient  empires, 
which  all  fell  imperceptibly  away  at  a  lighter  stroke ;  and 
that  afterwards,  though  scattered  among  all  nations,  and 
finding  no  ease  among  them  all,  they  should  have  with- 
stood eighteen  centuries  of  almost  unremitted  persecu- 
tion ;  and  that  after  so  many  generations  have  elapsed, 
they  should  still  retain  their  distinctive  form,  or,  as  it 
may  be  called,  their  individuality  of  character,  is  assured- 
ly the  most  marvellous  event  that  is  recorded  in  the  his- 
tory of  nations;  and  if  it  be  not  acknowledged  as  a 
"  sign,"  it  is  in  reality,  as  well  as  in  appearance,  "  a 
wonder,"  the  most  inexplicable  within  the  province  of 
the  philosophy  of  history.  But  that,  after  the  endurance 
of  such  manifold  woes,  such  perpetual  spoliation,  and  so 
many  ages  of  unmitigated  suffering,  during  which  their 
life  was  to  hang  in  doubt  within  them,  they  should  still  be, 
as  actually  they  are,  the  possessors  of  great  wealth ;  and 
that  this  fact  should  so  strictly  accord  with  the  prophecy, 
which  describes  them  on  their  final  restoration  to  Judea, 
as  taking  their  silver  and  their  gold  v)ith  them,  and  eat- 
ing the  riches  of  the  gentiles  ;^  and  also  that,  though  cap- 
tives or  fugitives  "  few  in  number,"  and  the  miserable 
remnant  of  an  extinguished  kingdom  at  the  time  they 
were  "  scattered  abroad,"  they  should  be  to  this  hour  a 
1  Isa.  Ix.  9,  Ixi.  6. 
8 


Ob  THE    JEWS. 

numerous  people, — and  that  this  should  have  been  ex- 
pressly implied  in  the  prophetic  declaration  descriptive 
of  their  condition  on  their  restoration  to  Judea,  after  all 
their  wanderings,  that  tlie  land  shall  he  too  narrow  by 
reason  of  the  inhabitants^  and  that  place  shall  not  be  found 
for  than  ;*  are  facts  which  as  clearly  show,  to  those  who 
consider  them  at  all,  the  operation  of  an  overruling  Pro- 
vidence, as  the  revelation  of  such  an  inscrutable  destiny 
is  the  manifest  dictate  of  inspiration. 

Such  are  the  prophecies,  and  such  are  the  facts,  re- 
specting the  Jews ;  and  from  premises  like  these  the 
feeblest  logician  may  draw  a  moral  demonstration.  If 
they  had  been  utterly  destroyed ;  if  they  had  mingled 
among  the  nations  :  if,  in  the  space  of  nearly  eighteen  cen- 
turies after  their  dispersion,  they  had  become  extinct  as 
a  people ;  even  if  they  had  been  secluded  in  a  single 
region,  and  had  remained  united ;  if  their  history  had 
been  analogous  to  that  of  any  nation  upon  the  earth,  an 
attempt  might,  with  some  plausibility  or  reason,  have 
been  made,  to  show  cause  why  the  prediction  of  their 
fate,  however  true  to  the  fact,  ought  not  in  such  case  to 
be  sustained  as  evidence  of  the  truth  of  inspiration.  Or 
if  the  past  history  and  present  state  of  the  Jews  were 
not  of  a  nature  so  singular  and  peculiar  as  to  bear  out 
to  the  very  letter  the  truth  of  the  prophecies  concerning 
them,  with  what  triumph  would  the  infidel  have  pro- 
duced these  very  prophecies  as  fatal  to  the  idea  of  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures !  And  when  the  Jews  have 
been  scattered  throughout  the  whole  earth ;  when  they 
have  remained  everywhere  a  distinct  race ;  when  they 
have  been  despoiled  evermore,  and  yet  never  destroyed  ; 
when  the  most  wonderful  and  amazing  facts,  such  as 
never  occurred  among  any  people,  form  the  ordinary 
narrative  of  their  history,  and  fuHil  literally  the  prophe- 
cio^s  concerning  them,  may  not  the  believer  challenge  his 
adversary  to  the  production  of  such  credentials  of  the 
feith  that  is  in  him  *:?  They  present  an  unbroken  chain 
of  evidence,  each  link  a  prophecy  and  a  fact,  extending 
>  Isa.  xlix.  19 ;  Zech.  x.  10. 


THE   JEWS.  87 

throughout  a  multitude  of  generations,  and  not  yet  termi- 
nated. Though  the  events,  various  and  singular  as  they 
are,  have  been  brought  about  by  the  instrumentality  of 
human  means,  and  the  agency  of  secondary  causes,  yet 
they  are  equally  prophetic  and  miraculous  ;  for  the  means 
were  as  impossible  to  be  foreseen  as  the  end,  and  the 
causes  were  as  inscrutable  as  the  event ;  and  they  have 
been,  and  still  in  numberless  instances  are,  accomplished 
by  the  instrumentality  of  the  enemies  of  Christianity. 
Whoever  seeks  a  miracle,  may  here  behold  a  sign  and 
a  w^onder,  than  which  there  cannot  be  a  greater.  And 
the  Christian  may  bid  defiance  to  all  the  assaults  of  his 
enemies  from  this  stronghold  of  Christianity,  impenetra- 
ble and  impregnable  on  every  side. 

The  prophecies  concerning  the  Jews  are  as  clear  as  a 
narrative  of  the  events.  They  are  ancient  as  the  oldest 
records  in  existence ;  and  it  has  never  been  denied  that 
they  were  all  delivered  before  the  accomplishment  of 
one  of  them.  They  were  so  unimaginable  by  human 
wisdom,  that  the  whole  compass  of  nature  has  never 
exhibited  a  parallel  to  the  events.  And  the  facts  are 
visible,  and  present,  and  applicable  even  to  a  hair-breadth. 
Could  Moses,  as  an  uninspired  mortal,  have  described 
the  history,  the  fate,  the  dispersion,  the  treatment,  the 
dispositions  of  the  Israelites  to  the  present  day,  or  for 
three  thousand  two  hundred  years,  seeing  that  he  was 
astonished,  and  amazed  on  his  descent  from  Sinai,  at  the 
change  in  their  sentiments  and  in  their  conduct,  in  the 
space  of  forty  days  ?  Could  various  persons  have  testi- 
fied, in  diflferent  ages,  of  the  self-same  and  of  similar 
facts,  as  wonderful  as  they  have  proved  to  be  true  ? 
Could  they  have  divulged  so  many  secrets  of  futurity, 
when  of  necessity  they  were  utterly  ignorant  of  them 
all  ?  The  probabilities  are  infinite  against  them.  For 
the  mind  of  man  often  fluctuates  in  uncertainty  over  the 
nearest  events  and  the  most  probable  results ;  but  in 
regard  to  remote  ages,  when  thousands  of  years  shall 
have  elapsed,  and  to  facts  respecting  them,  contrary  to 
all  previous  knowledge,  experience,  analogy,  or  concep- 


88  THE  JEWS. 

tion,  it  feels  that  they  are  dark  as  death  to  mortal  ken. 
And,  viewing  only  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  and  some 
of  its  attendant  circumstances  ;  how  their  city  was  laid 
desolate ;  their  temple,  which  formed  the  constant  place 
of  their  resort  before,  levelled  with  the  ground,  and 
ploughed  over  like  a  field ;  their  country  ravaged, 
and  themselves  murdered  in  mass;  falling  before  the 
sword,  the  famine  and  the  pestilence  ;  how  a  remnant 
was  left,  but  despoiled,  persecuted,  enslaved,  and  led 
into  captivity;  driven  from  their  own'  land,  not  to 
a  mountainous  retreat,  where  they  might  subsist  with 
safety,  but  dispersed  among  all  nations,  and  left  to  the 
mercy  of  a  world  that  everywhere  hated  and  oppressed 
them  ;  shattered  in  pieces  like  the  wreck  of  a  vessel  in 
a  mighty  storm  ;  scattered  over  the  earth,  like  fragments 
on  the  waters,  and,  instead  of  disappearing,  or  mingling 
with  the  nations,  remaining  a  perfectly  distinct  people, 
in  every  kingdom  the  same,  retaining  similar  habits  and 
customs,  and  creeds,  and  manners,  in  every  part  of  the 
globe,  though  without  ephod,  teraphim,  or  sacrifice; 
meeting  everywhere  the  same  insult,  and  mockery,  and 
oppression ;  finding  no  resting-place  without  an  enemy 
soon  to  dispossess  them  ;  multiplying  amidst  all  their 
miseries ;  surviving  their  enemies ;  beholding,  un- 
changed, the  extinction  of  many  nations,  and  the  con- 
vulsions of  all ;  robbed  of  their  silver  and  of  their  gold, 
though  cleaving  to  the  love  of  them  still,  as  the  stum- 
bling-block of  their  iniquity;  often  bereaved  of  their 
very  children ;  disjoined  and  disorganized,  but  uniform 
and  unaltered  ;  ever  bruised,  but  never  broken  ;  weak, 
fearful,  sorrowful,  and  afflicted  ;  often  driven  to  madness 
at  the  spectacle  of  their  own  misery  ;  taken  up  in  the 
lips  of  talkers ;  the  taunt  and  hissing,  and  infamy  of  all 
people,  and  continuing  ever,  what  they  are  to  this  day, 
the  sole  proverb  common  to  the  whole  world  ;  how^  did 
every  fact,  from  its  very  nature,  defy  all  conjecture,  and 
DOW  could  mortal  man,  overlooking  a  hundred  succes- 
sive generations,  have  foretold  any  one  of  these  wonders 
that  are  now  conspicuous  in  thest  latter  times  ?     Who 


JTJDEA.  oy 

but  the  Father  of  spirits,  possessed  of  perfect  pre- 
science, even  of  the  knowledge  of  the  will,  and  of  the 
actions  of  free,  intelligent,  and  moral  agents,  could  have 
revealed  their  unbounded  and  yet  unceasing  wanderings, 
unveiled  all  their  destiny,  and  unmasked  the  minds  of 
the  Jews  and  of  their  enemies,  in  every  age  and  in  every 
clime  ?  The  creation  of  a  world  might  as  well  be  the 
work  of  chance  as  the  revelation  of  these  things.  It  is 
a  visible  display  of  the  power  and  of  the  prescience  of 
God,  an  accumulation  of  many  miracles.  And  although 
it  forms  but  a  part  of  a  small  portion  of  the  Christian 
evidence,  it  lays  not  only  a  stone  of  stumbling,  such  as 
infidels  would  try  to  cast  in  a  Christian's  path,  but  it 
fixes  an  insurmountable  barrier  at  the  very  threshold  of 
infidelity,  immovable  by  all  human  device,  and  imper- 
vious to  every  attack. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  THE  LAND  OF  JUDEA  AND 
CIRCUMJACENT  COUNTRIES. 

The  writings  of  the  Jewish  prophets  not  only  de- 
scribed the  fate  of  that  people  for  many  generations 
subsequent  to  the  latest  period  to  which  the  most  un- 
yielding skepticism  can  pretend  to  affix  the  date  of  these 
predictions ;  but  while  the  cities  were  teeming  with  in- 
habitants, and  the  land  flowing  with  abundance,  for  cen- 
turies before  Judea  ceased  to  count  its  millions,  they 
foretold  the  long  reign  of  desolation  that  would  ensue. 
The  land  is  a  witness  as  well  as  the  people.  Its  aspect 
in  the  present  day  is  the  precise  likeness  delineated  by 
the  pencil  of  prophecy,  when  every  feature  that  could 
admit  of  change  was  the  reverse  of  w^hat  it  now  is  :  and 
it  is  necessary  only  to  compare  the  predictions  them- 
selves with  that  proof  of  their  fiilfilment  which,  were 


90  JUDEA. 

all  other  testimony  to  be  excluded,  heathens  and  infidels 
supply. 

The  calamities  of  the  Jews  were  to  arise  progressively 
with  their  iniquities.  They  were  to  be  punished  again 
and  again,  "  yet  seven  times  for  their  sins."*  And  in 
the  greatest  of  the  denunciations  which  were  to  fill  up 
the  measure  of  their  punishments,  the  long-continued 
desolation  of  their  country  is  ranked  among  the  worst 
and  latest  of  their  woes ;  and  the  prophecies  respecting 
it  which  admit  of  a  literal  interpretation,  and  which 
have  been  literally  fulfilled,  are  abundantly  clear  and 
expressive. 

"  I  will  make  your  cities  waste,  and  bring  your  sanc- 
tuaries unto  desolation.  And  I  will  bring  the  land  into 
desolation ;  and  your  enemies  which  dwell  therein  shall 
be  astonished  at  it.  And  I  will  scatter  you  among  the 
heathen,  and  will  draw  out  a  sword  after  you  ;  and  your 
land  shall  be  desolate,  and  your  cities  waste.  Then 
shall  the  land  enjoy  her  Sabbaths,  as  long  as  it  lieth  de- 
solate, and  ye  be  in  your  enemies'  land ;  even  then  shall 
the  land  rest  and  enjoy  her  Sabbaths.  The  land  also 
shall  be  left  of  them,  and  shall  enjoy  her  Sabbaths  while 
she  lieth  desolate  without  them.^  So  that  the  genera- 
tion to  come  of  your  children  that  shall  rise  up  after  you, 
and  the  stranger  that  shall  come  from  a  far  land,  shall 
say,  when  they  see  the  plagues  of  that  land,  and  the 
sicknesses  which  the  Lord  hath  laid  upon  it,  Wherefore 
hath  the  Lord  done  thus  unto  this  land  ?  what  meaneth 
the  heat  of  this  great  anger  ?  The  anger  of  the  Lord 
was  kindled  against  this  land,  to  bring  upon  it  all  the 
curses  that  are  written  in  this  book.'^  Your  country  is 
desolate,  your  cities  are  burnt  with  fire ;  ^our  land, 
strangers  devour  it  in  your  presence,  and  it  is  desolate, 
as  overthrown  by  strangers.  And  the  daughter  of  Zion 
is  left  as  a  cottage  in  a  vineyard,  as  a  lodge  in  a  garden 
of  cucumbers,  as  a  besieged  city.  Except  the  Lord  of 
hosts  had  left  unto  us  a  very  small  remnant,  we  should 

•  Levit.  xxvii.  18,  21,  24.  2  Levit.  xxvi.  31--34-,  43. 

3  Deut.  xxix.  23,  24,  27 


JTJDEA.  ^1 

have  been  as  Sodom,  and  we  should  have  been  like 
unto  Gomorrah/  Ye  shall  be  as  an  oak  whose  leaf 
fadeih,  and  as  a  garden  that  hath  no  water.^  I  will  lay 
my  vineyard  waste.  Of  a  truth  many  houses  shall  be 
desolate,  even  great  and  fair,  without  inhabitant.  Yea, 
ten  acres  oi  vineyard  shall  yield  one  bath,  and  the  seed 
of  an  homer  shall  yield  an  ephah.  Then  shall  the  lambs 
feed  after  their  manner,  and  the  waste  places  of  the  fat 
one  shall  strangers  eat.^  Then  said  I,  Lord,  how  long.? 
And  he  answered.  Until  the  cities  be  wasted  without  in- 
habitant, and  the  houses  without  man,  and  the  land  be 
utterly  desolate,  and  the  Lord  have  removed  men  far 
away,  and  there  be  a  great  forsaking  in  the  midst  of  the 
land.  But  yet  in  it  shall  be  a  tenth  ;  and  it  shall  return 
and  shall  be  eaten ;  as  a  teil  tree,  and  as  an  oak,  whose 
substance  is  in  them  w^hen  they  cast  their  leaves.^  The 
Lord  God  of  hosts  shall  make  a  consumption,  even  de- 
termined, in  the  midst  of  all  the  land.^  The  glory  of 
Jacob  shall  be  made  thin,  and  the  fatness  of  his  flesh 
shall  wax  lean:  and  it  shall  be  as  when  the  harvest-man 
gathereth  the  corn,  and  reapeth  the  ears  with  his  arm ; 
and  it  shall  be  as  he  that  gathereth  ears  in  the  valley  of 
Rephaim.  Yet  gleaning-grapes  shall  be  left  in  it,  as  the 
shaking  of  an  olive-tree,  two  or  three  berries  in  the  top 
of  the  uppermost  bough,  four  or  five  in  the  outmost 
fruitful  branches  thereof,  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel.* 
Behold,  the  Lord  maketh  the  earth^  (the  land)  empty, 

1  Isa.  i.  7—9.  2  isa,  i.  30.  «  Isa.  v.  6,  9,  10,  17. 

'•  Isa.  vi.  11 — 13.         *  Isa.  x.  23.  ^  jga.  xvii.  4—6. 

7  The  twent5^-fourth  chapter  of  Isaiah  contains  a  continuous 
prophetic  description  (exactly  analogous  to  other  predictions)  of 
the  desolation  of  Judea,  during  the  time  that  the  "  inhabitants 
thereof"  were  to  be  "  scattered  abroad  ;"  and  it  is  only  necessary, 
in  order  to  prevent  any  appearance  of  ambiguity,  to  remark,  that 
the  very  same  word  in  the  original,  which  in  the  English  trans- 
lation is  here  rendered  earth,  is,  in  subsequent  verses  of  the  same 
chapter,  also  translated  land;  evidently  implying  the  land  of 
Israel,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  to  be  "scattered  abroad;" 
and  so  obviously  is  this  the  meaning  of  the  word,  that  the  chapter 
is  properly  entitled  "  the  deplorable  judgments  of  God  upon  the 
land." 


92  JUDEA. 

• 

and  maketh  it  waste,  and  tumeth  it  upside  down,  and 
scattereth  abroad  the  inhabitants  thereof.  The  land 
shall  be  utterly  emptied,  and  utterly  spoiled :  for  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  this  word.  The  earth  (land)  moum- 
eth  and  fadeth  away ;  it  is  defiled  under  the  inhabitants 
thereof;  because  they  have  transgressed  the  laws, 
changed  the  ordinance,  broken  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant. Therefore  hath  the  curse  devoured  the  earth,  and 
they  that  dwell  therein  are  desolate,  and  few  men  left. 
The  new  wine  mourneth,  the  vine  languisheth,  all  the 
merry-hearted  do  sigh.  The  mirth  of  tabrets  ceaseth, 
the  noise  of  them  that  rejoice  endeth,  the  joy  of  the  harp 
ceaseth.  They  shall  not  drink  wine  with  a  song ;  strong 
drink  shall  be  bitter  to  them  that  drink  it.  The  city  of 
confusion  is  broken  down  ;  every  house  is  shut  up,  that 
no  man  may  come  in.  There  is  a  crying  for  wine  in  the 
streets;  all  joy  is  darkened,  the  mirth  of  the  land  is 
gone.  When  thus  it  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  the  land 
among  the  people,  there  shall  be  as  the  shaking  of  an 
olive  tree,  and  as  the  gleaning-grapes  when  the  vintage 
is  done.*  Yet  the  defenced  city  shall  be  desolate,  and 
the  habitation  forsaken,  and  left  like  a  wilderness: 
there  shall  the  calf  feed,  and  there  shall  he  lie  down 
and  consume  the  branches  thereof.  When  the  boughs 
thereof  are  withered,  they  shall  be  broken  off*:  the 
women  come  and  set  them  on  fire  ;  for  it  is  a  people  of 
no  understanding.^  Many  days  and  years  shall  ye  be 
troubled,  ye  careless  women ;  for  the  vintage  shall  fail, 
the  gathering  shall  not  come.  Tremble,  ye  women  that 
are  at  ease ;  be  troubled,  ye  careless  ones ;  strip  you, 
and  make  you  bare,  and  gird  sackcloth  upon  your  loins. 
They  shall  lament  for  the  teats,  for  the  pleasant  fields, 
for  the  fruitful  vine.  Upon  the  land  of  my  people  shall 
come  up  thorns  and  briers ;  yea,  upon  all  the  houses  of 
joy  in  the  joyous  city ;  because  the  palaces  shall  be  for- 
saken, the  multitude  of  the  city  shall  be  left ;  the  forts 
and  towers  shall  be  for  dens  for  ever,  a  joy  of  wild 
asses,  a  pasture  of  flocks ;  until  the  Spirit  be  poured 
'  Isa.  xxiv.  1,  3—11,  13.  2  Isa.  xxvii.  10,  11. 


JUDEA.  93 

upon  us  from  on  high,  and  the  wilderness  be  a  fruitful 
field,  and  the  fruitfril  field  be  counted  for  a  forest.*  The 
highways  lie  waste,  the  wayfaring  man  ceaseth  ;  he  hath 
broken  the  covenant,  he  hath  despised  the  cities,  he  re- 
gardeth  no  man.  The  earth  mourneth  and  languisheth ; 
Lebanon  is  ashamed  and  hewn  down  ;  Sharon  is  like  a 
wilderness ;  and  Bashan  and  Carmel  shake  off  their 
fruits.*  Destruction  upon  destruction  is  cried ;  for  the 
whole  land  is  spoiled.  I  beheld,  and  lo,  the  fruitful 
place  was  a  wilderness,  and  all  the  cities  thereof  were 
broken  down  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  For  thus 
hath  the  Lord  said.  The  whole  land  shall  be  desolate ; 
yet  will  I  not  make  a  full  end.  For  this  shall  the  earth 
mourn, — because  I  have  spoken  it,  I  have  purposed  it, 
and  will  not  repent,  neither  will  I  turn  back  from  it.^ 
How  long  shall  the  land  mourn,  and  the  herbs  of  every 
field  wither,  for  the  wickedness  of  them  that  dwell 
therein  ?  I  have  forsaken  mine  house,  I  have  lefl  mine 
heritage.  Many  pastors  have  destroyed  my  vineyard, 
they  have  trodden  my  portion  under  foot,  they  have  made 
my  pleasant  portion  a  desolate  wilderness.  They  have 
made  it  desolate,  and  being  desolate  it  mourneth  unto  me ; 
the  whole  land  is  made  desolate,  because  no  man  layeth 
it  to  heart.  The  spoilers  are  come  upon  all  high  places 
through  the  wilderness ; — no  flesh  shall  have  peace. 
They  have  sown  wheat,  but  shall  reap  thorns ;  they 
have  put  themselves  to  pain,  but  shall  not  profit ;  and 
they  shall  be  ashamed  of  your  revenues,  because  of  the 
fierce  anger  of  the  Lord.*  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God 
to  the  mountains  of  Israel,  and  to  the  hills,  to  the  rivers, 
and  to  the  valleys.  Behold,  I,  even  I,  will  bring  a  sword 
upon  you,  and  I  will  destroy  your  high  places.  In  all 
your  dwelling-places  the  cities  shall  be  laid  waste,  and 
the  high  places  shall  be  desolate,  that  your  altars  may  be 
laid  waste  and  made  desolate.  I  will  stretch  out  my 
hand  upon  them,  and  make  the  land  more  desolate  than 
the  wilderness  towards  Diblath,  in  all  their  habitations.* 

'  Isa.  xxxii.  10—15.  2  isa.  xxxiii.  8,  9. 

3  Jer.  iv.  20,  26—28.  "■  Jer.  xii.  4,7,  10—13. 

5  Ezek.  vi.  3,  6,  14. 


94  JUDEA. 

I  will  bring  the  worst  of  the  heathen,  and  they  shall  pos- 
sess their  houses:  I  will  also  make  tlie  pomp  of  the 
strong  to  cease ;  and  their  holy  places  shall  be  defiled. 
Say  unto  the  people  of  the  land,  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  land  of 
Israel,  They  shall  eat  their  bread  with  carefulness,  and 
drink  their  water  with  astonishjnent,  that  her  land  may 
be  desolate  from  all  that  is  therein,  because  of  the  vio- 
lence of  all  them  that  dwell  therein.  Every  one  that 
passe th  thereby  shall  be  astonished.*  Hear  this,  all  ye 
inhabitants  of  the  land.  Hath  this  been  in  your  days, 
or  even  in  the  days  of  your  fathers?  Tell  ye  your 
children  of  it,  and  let  your  children  tell  their  children, 
and  their  children  another  generation.  That  which  the 
palmer- worm  hath  left  hath  tjie  locusts  eaten ;  and  that 
which  the  locust  hath  left  hath  the  canker-worm  eaten ; 
and  that  which  the  canker-worm  hath  left  hath  the 
caterpillar  eaten.  The  field  is  wasted,  the  land  moum- 
eth,  and  joy  is  withered  away  from  the  sons  of  men. 
And  I  will  restore  to  you  the  years  that  the  locust  hath 
eaten,  the  canker-worm,  and  the  caterpillar,  and  the 
palmer-worm.  And  my  people  shall  never  be  ashamed." 
The  city  that  went  out  by  a  thousand  shall  leave  an 
hundred,  and  that  which  went  forth  by  an  hundred  shall 
leave  ten,  to  the  house  of  Israel.  Seek  not  Bethel ; 
Bethel  shall  come  to  nought.^  Behold,  I  will  set  a 
plumb-line  in  the  midst  of  my  people  Israel :  I  will  not 
again  pass  by  them  any  more.  And  the  high  places  of 
Isaac  shall  be  desolate,  and  the  sanctuaries  of  Israel  shkll 
be  laid  waste.**  I  will  make  Samaria  as  an  heap  of  the 
field,  and  as  plantings  of  a  vineyard ;  and  I  will  pour 
down  the  stones  thereof  into  the  valley,  and  I  will  dis- 
cover the  foundations  thereof."^ 

Numerous  and  clear  as  these  denunciations  are,  yet 
such  was  the  long-suffering  patience  of  God,  and  such 
the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  Israelites  of  old,  that  it  had 

1  Ezek.  vii.  24,  xii.  19;  Jer.  xix.  8. 

2  Joel  i.  2—4,  10,  12,  ii.  25, 26.  ^  Amos  v.  3,  6. 
<  Amos  vii.  8,  9.                                         *  Micah  i.  6. 


JUDEA  95 

become  a  proverb  in  the  land,  "  the  days  are  prolonged, 
and  every  vision  faileth."  But  though  that  proverb 
ceased  when  great  calamities  did  overtake  them,  and  a 
temporary  desolation  came  over  their  land,  yet  the  curses 
denounced  against  it  were  not  obliterated  by  a  partial 
and  transient  fulfilment,  but,  on  the  renewed  and  unre- 
pented  wickedness  of  the  people,  fell  upon  them  and 
their  land  with  stricter  truth,  and,  as  foretold,  with  seven- 
fold severity. 

Moses  and  all  the  prophets  set  blessings  and  curses 
before  the  Israelites,  with  the  avowed  purpose  that  they 
might  choose  between  them.  But  while  the  prophetical 
writings  abound  with  warnings,  the  scriptural  records  of 
Israelitish  history  show  how  greatly  these  warnings  were 
disregarded.  The  word  of  God,  which  is  a  perfect  work, 
abideth  for  ever :  and  it  returns  not  to  him  void,  but 
fulfils  the  purpose  for  which  he  sent  it.  And  after  the 
statutes  and  judgments  of  the  Lord  had  been  set  before 
the  Israelites  for  the  space  of  a  thousand  years  from  the 
time  that  they  were  first  declared,  the  "  burden  of  the 
word  of  the  Lord  to  Israel  by  Malachi,"  instead  of 
speaking,  even  then,  of  repealed  judgments,  closes  the 
Jewish  Scriptures  with  this  last  command,  "  Remember 
ye  the  law  of  Moses  my  servant,  which  I  commanded 
unto  him  in  Horeb  for  all  Israel,  with  the  statutes  and 
judgments  ;"^  and,  affixed  to  the  command  to  remem- 
ber these,  the  very  last  words  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  seal  up  the  vision  and  the  prophecies,  plainly 
indicate,  that  however  long  the  God  of  Israel  might 
bear  with  the  Jews  for  transgressing  the  law,  while  the 
law  only  was  given  them,  yet  on  their  refusal  to  repent 
when  the  prophet,  who  was  to  be  "  the  messenger  of  the 
Lord,"  would  be  sent  unto  them^  the  Lord  would  come 
and  "smite  the  earth  (or  the  land)  with  a  curse." 

The  term  of  the  continuance  of  these  judgments,  and 
of  their  full  completion,  is  distinctly  marked,  as  com- 
mensurate with  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  and  termi- 
nating with  their  final  restoration.  So  long  as  they  be 
'  Mai.  iv.  4. 


%  JUDEA. 

in  their  enemies'  land,  their  own  land  lieth  desolate. 
The  judgments  were  not  to  be  removed  from  it  "  until 
the  Spirit  be  poured  (upon  the  Jews)  from  on  high,  and 
the  wilderness  be  a  fruitful  field."'  And  the  prophecies 
not  only  portray  Judea  while  forsaken  of  the  Lord,  his 
heritage  left,  and  given  into  the  hands  of  its  enemies, 
but  they  also  delineate  the  character  and  condition  of  the 
dwellers  therein,  while  its  ancient  inhabitants  were  to  be 
scattered  abroad,  and  ere  the  time  come  when  he  shall 
reign  in  Jerusalem  before  his  ancients  gloriously."  An- 
nunciations of  a  future  and  final  restoration,  almost  uni- 
formly accompany  the  curses  denounced  against  the 
land.  And  frequent,  and  express  as  words  can  be,  are 
the  references  throughout  the  prophecies  to  the  period 
yet  to  come,'^when  the  children  of  Israel  shall  be  gathered 
out  of  all  nations,  and  when  the  land  then,  at  last  and 
for  ever,  brought  back  from  desolation,  and  the  cities, 
repaired  after  the  desolations  of  many  generations,  and 
the  mountains  of  Israel,  which  have  been  always  waste, 
shall  be  no  more  desolate,  nor  the  people  termed  for- 
saken any  more.'  After  the  Messiah  was  to  be  cut  off, 
and  the  sacrifice  and  oblation  to  cease,  the  ensuing  deso- 
lations were  to  reach  even  to  the  consumTnation,  and  till 
that  determined  shall  be  poured  upon  the  desolate.* 
And  Jerusalem,  as  Jesus  hath  declared,  shall  be  trodden 
down  of  the  gentiles,  till  the  times  of  the  gentiles  be 
fulfilled.* 

Neither  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  nor  the  desolation 
of  Judea  is  to  cease,  according  to  the  prophecies,  till 
other  evidence  shall  thereby  be  given  of  prophetic  in- 
spiration. The  application  to  the  present  period,  or  to 
modern  times,  of  the  prophecies  relative  to  the  desola- 
tion of  Judea,  is  thus  abundantly  manifest.  And  the 
more  numerous  they  are,  so  much  the  more  severe  is  the 
test  which  they  abide.  Anc  while  the  Jews  are  not  yet 
gathered  from  all  the  nations  nor  planted  in  their  own 

'  Isa.  xxxii.  15.  2  isa.  xxiv.  1,  23. 

3  Isa.  Ixi.  4 ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  8, 10,  xxxv  v  21,  xxxviii.  8 ;  Isa,  Ixii.  4. 

<  Dan.  ix.  27.  ^  Luke  xxi.  24. 


JUDEA.  97 

land  to  be  no  more  pulled  out  of  it  ;*  nor  its  destroyers 
and  they  that  laid  it  waste,  gone  forth  from  it  f  nor  the 
old  waste  places  built,  nor  the  foundations  of  many 
generations  raised  up,  nor  the  land  brought  back  from 
desolation,^ — the  effect  of  every  vision  is  still  to  be 
seen,  and  even  now,  at  this  late  period  of  the  times  of 
the  gentiles,  though  the  blessed  consummation  may  not 
be  very  distant,  there  is  abundant  evidence  to  complete 
the  proof  that  that  which  was  determined  has  been 
poured  upon  the  desolate,  and  that  all  the  curses  that 
are  written  in  the  book  of  the  Lord  have  been  brought 
upon  the  land.** 

The  devastation  of  Judea  is  so  "  astonishing,"  and 
its  poverty  as  a  country  so  remarkable,  that,  forgetful 
of  the  prophecies  respecting  it,  and  in  the  rashness  of 
their  zeal,  infidels  have  attempted  to  draw  an  argument 
from  thence  against  the  truth  of  Christianity,  by  denying 
the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  so  numerous  a  popula- 
tion as  can  accord  with  scriptural  history,  and  by  repre- 
senting it  as  a  region  singularly  unproductive  and  irre- 
claimable/    But   though   they  have  voluntarily  aban- 

^  Amos  ix.  14, 15.  2  Isa.  xlix.  17. 

3  Isa.  Iviii.  12.  "  Deut.  xxix.  27. 

5  Voltaire,  without  adducing  any  authority  whatever  in  support 
of  his  assertion,  and  without  expressly  declaring  that,  in  lieu  of 
such  evidence,  he  was  gifted  with  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the 
historical  and  geographical  fact, — speaks  of  the  ancient  state  of 
Palestine  with  derision,  describes  it  as  one  of  the  worst  countries 
of  Asia;  likens  it  to  Switzerland,  and  says  that  it  can  only  be 
esteemed  fertile  when  compared  with  the  desert.  (Bp.  Newton.) 
"La  Palestine  n'etait  que  ce  qu'elle  est  aujourd'hui,  un  des  plus 
mauvais  pays  de  I'Asie.  Cette  petite  province,"  &c.  (CEuvres  de 
Voltaire,  torn,  xxvii.  p.  107.)  Without  citing,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  ample  evidence  of  Josephus  and  of  Jerome,  both  of  whom 
were  inhabitants  of  Judea,  and  more  adequate  judges  of  the  fact, 
the  following  testimony  to  the  great  fertility  of  that  country,  not 
being  chargeable  with  the  partiality  which  might  be  attached  to 
the  opinion  either  of  a  Christian  or  of  a  Jew,  maybe  given  in  answer 
to  the  groundless  assertion  of  Voltaire  ;  testimony  which  ought  to 
have  been  better  known  and  appreciated  even  by  that  high  priest 
of  modern  infidelity,  if  the  sacrifice  of  truth  on  the  altar  of  wit 
had  not  been  too  common  an  act  of  his  devotion  to  the  chief  god 
of  his  idolatry.  "  Corpora  hominum  salubria  et  ferentia  laborum ; 
9 


98  JUDEA. 

doned  this  indefensible  assumption,  they  have  left  to 
the  believer  the  fruits  of  their  concession  ;  they  have 
given  the  most  unsuspicious  testimony  to  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  prophecies,  and  have  served  to  establish  the 
cause  which  they  sought  to  ruin.  The  evidence  of 
ancient  authors;  the  fertility  of  the  soil  wherever  a 
single  spot  can  be  cultivated  ;  tjie  remains  of  vegetable 
mould  piled,  by  artificial  means,  upon  the  sides  of  the 
mountains,  which  may  have  clothed  them  with  a  richer 
and  more  frequent  harvest  than  the  most  fertile  vale; 
and  the  multitude  of  the  ruins  of  cities  that  now  cover 
the  extensive  but  uncultivated  and  desert  plains,  bear 
witness  that  there  was  a  numerous  and  condensed  popu- 
lation in  a  country  flowing  with  food  ;  and  that,  if  any 
history  recorded  its  greatness,  or  any  prophecies  revealed 
its  desolation,  they  have  both  been  amply  verified. 

The  acknowledgments  of  Volney,  and  the  description 
which  he  gives  from  personal  observation,  are  sufficient 
to  confute  entirely  the  gratuitous  assumptions  and  insi- 
dious sarcasms  of  Voltaire :  and,  wonderful  as  it  may 
appear,  copious  extracts  may  be  drawn  from  that  writer, 
whose  unwitting  or  unwilling  testimony  is  as  powerful 
an  attestation  of  the  completion  of  many  prophecies, 
when  he  relates  facts  of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness, 
as  his  untried  theories,  his  ideal  perfectibility  of  human 
nature,  if  released  from  the  restraints  of  religion,  and 
his  perverted  views  both  of  the  nature  and  effects  of 
Christianity,  have  proved  greatly  instrumental  in  sub- 
verting the  faith  of  many,  who,  unguarded  by  any  posi- 

rari  imbres,  uber  solum.  Exuberant  fruges  nostrum  ad  morem  ; 
prtBterque  eas  balsamum  et  palmce. — Magna  pars  Judaeae  vicis  disper- 
gitur;  habent  et  oppida.  Hiersolyma  genti  caput.  lUic  immensse 
opulentioe  templum,  et  primis  munimentis  urbs."  (Taciti  Hist.  lib. 
V.  cap.  vi.  viii.  Rel.  Pales.)  "  Ultima  Syriarum  est  Palsestina,  per 
intervalla  magna  protenta,  cultis  abundans  terris  et  nitidis,  et 
civitates  habens  quasdam  egregias,  nuUam  sibi  cedentem,  sed 
sibi  vicissim  velut  ad  perpendiculum  aemulas."  (Ammianus  Mar- 
cellinus,  lib.  xiv.  cap.  viii.  §  11,  ibid.)  "Nee  sane  viris,  opibus, 
armis  quicquam  copiosius  Syria."  (Flori  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  viii. 
§  4.)  "  Syria  in  hortis  operosissima  est.  Indeque  proverbium 
Grsecis,  Multa  Syrorum  olera."    (Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  xx.  cap.  v.) 


JUDEA.  99 

tive  evidence,  gave  heed  to  such  seductive  doctrines. 
There  needs  not  to  be  any  better  witness  of  facts  con- 
firmatory of  the  prophecies,  and  in  so  far  conclusive 
against  all  his  speculations,  than  Volney  himself.  Of  the 
natural  fertility  of  the  country,  and  of  its  abounding 
population  in  ancient  times,  he  gives  the  most  decisive 
evidence.  "  Syria  unites  different  climates  under  the 
same  sky,  and  collects  within  a  small  compass  pleasures 
and  productions  which  nature  has  elsewhere  dispersed 
at  great  distances  of  time  and  place.  To  this  advantage, 
which  perpetuates  enjoyments  by  their  succession,  it 
adds  another,  that  of  multiplying  them  by  the  variety  of 

its  productions With  its  numerous  advantages  of 

climate  and  soil,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  Syria  should 
always  have  been  esteemed  a  most  delicious  country, 
and  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  ranked  it  among  the 
most  beautiful  of  their  provinces,  and  even  thought  it 
not  inferior  to  Egypt.  "^  After  having  assigned  several 
just  and  sufficient  reasons  to  account  for  the  large  popu- 
lation of  Judea  in  ancient  times,  in  contradiction  to  those 
who  were  skeptical  of  the  fact,  he  adds :  "  Admitting 
only  what  is  conformable  to  experience  and  nature, 
there  is  nothing  to  contradict  the  great  population  of 
high  antiquity.  Without  appealing  to  the  positive  testi- 
mony of  history,  there  are  innumerable  monuments 
which  depose  in  favour  of  the  fact.  Such  are  the  pro- 
digious quantity  of  ruins  dispersed  over  the  plains,  and 
even  in  the  mountains,  at  this  day  deserted.  On  the 
remote  parts  of  Cannel  are  found  wild  vines  and  olive 
trees,  which  must  have  been  conveyed  thither  by  the 
hand  of  man :  and  in  the  Lebanon  of  the  Druses  and 
Maronites,  the  rocks,  now  abandoned  to  fir  trees  and 
brambles,  present  us  in  a  thousand  places  wdth  terraces, 
which  prove  that  they  were  anciently  better  cultivated, 
and  consequently  much  more  populous  than  in  our 
days."^ 

•  Volney's  Travels   in  Egypt  and   Syria,  vol.  i.  pp.  316,  321 
English  translation,  Lond.  1787. 

2  Volney's  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  vol.  ii.  p.  368. 


100  JUDEA. 

"  Syria,"  says  Gibbon,  "  one  of  the  countries  that 
have  been  improved  by  the  most  early  cultivation,  is  not 
unworthy  of  the  preference.  The  heat  of  the  climate  is 
tempered  by  the  vicinity  of  the  sea  and  mountains,  by 
the  plenty  of  wood  and  water ;  and  the  produce  of  a 
fertile  soil  affords  the  subsistence  and  encourages  the 
propagation  of  men  and  animals.  From  the  age  of 
David  to  that  of  Heraclius  the  country  was  overspread 
with  ancient  and  flourishing  cities ;  the  inhabitants  were 
numerous  and  wealthy."  Such  evidence  has  merely 
been  selected  as  the  most  unsuspicious,  though  that  of 
many  others  might  also  be  adduced.  The  country  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Jerusalem  is  indeed  rocky,  as 
Strabo  represents  it,  and  apparently  sterile,  and  is  now, 
in  general,  perfectly  barren :  ^'  but  even  the  sides  of  the 
most  barren  mountains  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusa- 
lem had  been  rendered  fertile,  by  being  divided  into 
terraces,  Hke  steps  rising  one  above  another,  where  soil 
has  been  accumulated  with  astonishing  labour."*  "  In 
any  part  of  Judea,"  Dr.  Clarke  adds,  "  the  effects  of  a 
beneficial  change  of  government  are  soon  witnessed,  in 
the  conversion  of  desolated  plains  into  fertile  fields. 
Under  a  wise  and  beneficent  government,  the  produce 
of  the  Holy  Land  would  exceed  all  calculation.  Its 
perennial  harvest,  the  salubrity  of  its  air,  its  limpid 
springs,  its  rivers,  lakes,  and  matchless  plains,  its  hills 
and  vales,  all  these,  added  to  the  serenity  of  the  climate, 
prove  this  to  be  indeed  a  field  which  the  Lord  hath 
blessed."*  But  the  facts  of  the  former  fertility,  as  well 
as  of  the  present  desolation  of  Judea,  are  established 
beyond  contradiction  ;  and,  in  attempting  in  this  respect 
to  invalidate  the  truth  of  sacred  history,  infidels  have 
either  been  driven,  or  have  reluctantly  retired,  from  the 
defenceless  ground  which  they  themselves  had  once 
assumed,  and  have  given  room  whereon  to  rest  an  argu- 

'  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  520.  General  Straton  describes 
ihese  terraces  as  resembling  the  gradus  of  a  theatre,  and  particu- 
larly marked  them  as  vestiges  of  ancient  "luxuriance." 

3  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  521. 


JUDEA.  101 

ment  against  their  want  of  faith  as  well  as  of  veracity. 
For,  in  conclusion  of  this  matter,  it  surely  may,  without 
any  infringement  of  truth  or  justice,  be  remarked,  that 
the  extent  of  the  present  and  long-fixed  desolation,  the 
very  allegation  on  which  they  would  discredit  the  scrip- 
tural narrative  of  the  ancient  glory  of  Judea,  being  itself 
a  clearly  predicted  truth,  then  the  greater  the  difficulty 
of  reconciling  the  knowledge  of  what  it  was  to  the  fact 
of  what  it  is,  and  the  greater  the  difficulty  of  believing 
the  possibihty  of  so  "  astonishing"  a  contrast,  the  more 
wonderful  are  the  prophecies  which  revealed  it  all,  the 
more  completely  are  they  accredited  as  a  voice  from 
heaven,  and  the  argument  of  the  infidel  leads  the  more 
directly  to  proof  against  himself.  Such  is  "  the  positive 
testimony  of  history,"  and  such  the  subsisting  proofs  of 
the  former  grandeur  and  fertility  of  Palestine,  that  we 
are  now  left,  without  a  cavil,  to  the  calm  investigation 
of  the  change  in  that  country  from  one  extreme  to  an- 
other, and  of  the  consonance  of  that  change  with  the 
dictates  of  prophecy. 

Having  recently  visited  the  land  of  Judea,  the  writer 
may  confidently  affirm  that  it  sets  before  the  eyes  of  every 
beholder,  who  knows  the  Bible,  and  can  exercise  his 
reason,  a  threefold  illustration  of  the  truth  of  Scripture, 
in  respect  to  its  past,  present,  and  yet  destined  state.  It 
not  only  presents  to  view  the  scenes  of  scriptural  history, 
often  recognisable  to  this  hour  as  the  places  of  which  the 
sacred  penmen  wrote,  and  where  events  were  transacted, 
the  knowledge  of  which  shall  ever  be  the  common  pro- 
perty of  man ;  but  it  exhibits,  even  among  the  barren 
but  terraced  mountains  of  Israel,  such  proofs  of  ancient 
cultivation,  as  show  to  a  demonstration,  that  the  ancient 
fertility  and  glory  of  the  land  were  not  inferior  to  what 
Scripture  represents.  Looking  on  it  as  it  is,  the  whole 
land  now  bears  the  burden  of  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
And  yet  it  shows  as  clearly,  whenever  that  burden  shall 
be  removed,  and  the  Lord  shall  in  mercy  remember  the 
land,  that  it  yet  retains  the  capabiHty,  as  if  it  had  never 
been  laid  waste,  of  blooming  forth  anew  in  all  its  beauty, 
9* 


102  JUDEA. 

and  bearing  its  fruits  in  all  their  profiision,  till  its  moun- 
tains and  plains  be  again  clothed  with  as  rich  and  varied 
a  produce  as  any  land  on  earth  can  yield. 

To  that  consummation  of  all  their  predictions  con- 
cerning it,  the  prophets  ever  looked.  The  people  that 
have  been  scattered  throughout  the  world  shall  finally  be 
brought  back  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  to  be  no  more 
plucked  out  of  it  for  ever.  And  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
land  of  Canaan,  long  dormant,  but  never  dead,  shall  re- 
appear in  its  glory,  when  the  wilderness  shall  be  turned 
into  a  fruitful  field,  and  there  shall  be  no  more  desolation. 
But  notwithstanding  the  blasphemies  that  have  been 
spoken  against  the  mountains  of  Israel,  no  man  who  has 
stood  in  3ie  midst  of  them  could  fail  to  see  that  they  lie 
desolate  as  smitten  with  a  curse,  and  that  they  shall  be 
desolate  no  more  when  that  judgment  shall  be  taken 
away.  Many  prophetic  songs  of  rejoicing  and  praise 
await  the  time  when  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place 
shall  be  glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose,  and  the  terraced  mountains  of  Israel 
shall  be  planted  anew  by  the  hands  of  Israel's  children, 
and  bear  the  shame  of  the  heathen  no  more.  Prophecy 
unto  the  mountains  of  Israel,  and  say,  Ye  mountains  of 
Israel,  because  they  have  made'  you  desolate,  and  ye  are 
taken  up  in  the  lips  of  talkers,  and  ye  are  an  infamy  of 
the  people:  therefore,  ye  mountains  of  Israel,  hear  the 
words  of  the  Lord  God  ;  Thus  saith  the  word  of  the 
Lord  to  the  mountains,  and  to  the  hills,  to  the  rivers,  and 
to  the  valleys,  to  the  desolate  wastes,  and  to  the  cities  that 
are  forsaken,  which  became  a  prey  and  derision  to  the 
residue  of  the  heathen  that  are  round  about,  8^c.  Ye,  0 
mountains  of  Israel,  shall  yield  your  fruit  to  my  people 
Israel.  And  I  vnll  settle  you  after  your  old  estates,  and 
will  do  better  unto  you  than  at  your  beginnings  ;  neither 
will  I  cause  men  to  hear  in  thee  the  shame  of  the  heathen 
any  more  ;  neither  shall  thou  bear  the  reproach  of  the  people 
any  more.  Ezek.  xxxvi.  1 — 15.  The  mockery  of  mis- 
judging scoffers,  and  the  blasphemies  from  the  lips  of 
talkers,  uttered  in  purposed  refutation  of  the  truth  of  the 


JUDEA.  103 

word  of  God,  are  turned  into  a  testimony  against  them- 
selves. And  while  the  extent  of  the  predicted  desola- 
tion shows  how  wonderful  their  realization  has  been, 
another  reversal  of  the  fate  of  Judea  is  yet  reserved  and 
destined  to  show,  in  obvious  application  to  events  yet  to 
come,  how  mercy  rejoiceth  over  judgment ;  how  truth, 
even  in  things  opposite  to  each  other,  when  rightly  dis- 
cerned, is  ever  triumphant ;  and  how  the  lips  of  profane 
talkers,  having  tendered  their  testimony,  shall  be  silent 
for  ever,  and  the  mountains  of  Israel  be  neither  a  deri- 
sion nor  a  reproach  any  more. 

Under  any  regular  and  permanent  government,  a  region 
so  favoured  by  climate,  so  diversified  in  surface,  so  rich 
in  soil,  and  which  had  been  so  luxuriant  for  ages,  would 
naturally  have  resumed  its  opulence  and  power  ;  and  its 
permanent  desolation,  alike  contradictory  to  every  sug- 
gestion of  experience  and  of  reason,  must  have  been 
altogether  inconceivable  by  man.  But  the  land  was  to 
he  overthrown  by  strangers,  to  be  trodden  down  ;  mischief 
was  to  come  upon  mischief,  and  destruction  upon  destruc- 
tion, and  the  land  was  to  be  desolate.  The  Chaldeans 
devastated  Judea,  and  led  the  inhabitants  into  temporary 
captivity.  The  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  by  their  ex- 
tortions and  oppression,  impoverished  the  country.  The 
Romans  held  it  long  in  subjection  to  their  iron  yoke. 
And  the  Persians  contended  for  the  possession  of  it. 
But  in  succeeding  ages,  still  greater  destroyers  than  any 
of  the  former  appeared  upon  the  scene  to  perfect  the 
work  of  devastation.  "  In  the  year  622  (636)  the  Ara- 
bian tribes  collected  under  the  banners  of  Mahomet, 
seized,  or  rather  laid  it  waste.  Since  that  period,  torn 
to  pieces  by  the  civil  wars  of  the  Fatimites  and  the  Om- 
miades;  wrested  from  the  califs  by  their  rebellious 
governors ;  taken  from  them  by  the  Turcoman  soldiery  ; 
invaded  by  the  European  Crusaders ;  retaken  by  the 
Mamelouks  of  Egypt,  and  ravaged  by  Tamerlane  and 
his  Tartars,  it  has  at  length  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Ottoman  Turks.  "^  It  has  been  overthrown  by  strangers  ^ 
'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  367. 


104  JUDEA. 

trodden  under  foot:  destruction  has  come  upon  destruc- 
tion. 

The  cities  were  to  he  laid  waste.  By  the  concurring 
testimony  of  all  travellers,  Judea  may  now  be  called  a 
field  of  ruins.  Columns,  the  memorials  of  ancient  mag- 
nificence, now  covered  with  rubbish,  and  buried  under 
ru\ns,  may  be  found  in  all  Syria.  ^  From  Mount  Tabor 
is  beheld  an  immensity  of  plains,  interspersed  with  ham- 
lets, fortresses,  and  heaps  of  ruins.  The  buildings  on 
that  mountain  were  destroyed  and  laid  waste  by  the 
sultan  of  Egypt  in  1290,  and  the  accumulated  vestiges 
of  successive  forts  and  ruins  are  now  mingled  in  one 
common  and  extensive  desolation.^  Of  the  celebrated 
cities  Capernaum,  Bethsaida,  Gadara,  Tarichea,  and 
Chorazin,  nothing  remains  but  shapeless  ruins.^  Some 
vestiges  of  Emmaus  may  still  be  seen.  Cana  is  a  very 
paltry  village.  The  ruins  of  Tekoa  present  only  the 
foundations  of  some  considerable  buildings."  The  city 
of  Nain  is  now  a  hamlet.  The  ruins  of  the  ancient 
Sapphura  announce  the  previous  existence  of  a  large 
city ;  and  its  name  is  still  preserved  in  the  appellation 
of  a  miserable  village  called  Sephoury.*  Loudd  (the 
ancient  Lydda)  and  Diospolis  appear  like  a  place  lately 
ravaged  by  fire  and  sword,  and  are  one  continued  heap 
of  rubbish  and  ruins.^  Ramla,  the  ancient  Arimathea, 
is  in  almost  as  ruinous  a  state.  Nothing  but  rubbish  is 
to  be  found  within  its  boundaries.  In  the  adjacent 
country  there  are  found  at  every  step  dry  wells,  cisterns 
fallen  in,  and  vast  vaulted  reservoirs,  which  prove  that 
in  ancient  times  this  town  must  have  been  upwards  of  a 
league  and  a  half  in  circumference.^  Csesarea  can  no 
longer  excite  the  envy  of  a  conqueror,  and  has  long 

'  Mariti's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  141. 

2  Buckingham's  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  107;  Marili's  Travels, 
vol.  ii.  p.  177. 

3  Ibid.   Wilson's  Travels,  p.  237. 

<  Macmichael's  Journey  to  Constantinople,  p.  196. 
«  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  401. 

6  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  332—334. 

7  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  334. 


JUDEA. 


105 


been  abandoned  to  silent  desolation.^  The  city  of  Tibe- 
rias is  now  almost  abandoned,  and  its  subsistence  pre- 
carious ;  of  the  towns  that  bordered  on  its  lake  there 
are  no  traces  left.^  Zabulon,  once  the  rival  of  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  is  a  heap  of  ruins.  A  few  shapeless  stones, 
unworthy  the  attention  of  the  traveller,  mark  the  site  of 
the  Saffre.^  The  ruins  of  Jericho,  covering  no  less  than 
a  square  mile,  are  surrounded  with  complete  desolation ; 
and  there  is  not  a  tree  of  any  description,  either  of  palm 
or  balsam,  and  scarcely  any  verdure  or  bushes  to  be 
seen  about  the  site  of  this  abandoned  city.''  Bethel  has 
come  to  nought.  The  ruins  of  Sarepta,  and  of  several 
large  cities  in  its  vicinity,  are  now  "  mere  rubbish,  and 
are  only  distinguishable  as  the  sites  of  towns  by  heaps 
of  dilapidated  stones  and  fragments  of  columns."^  But 
at  Dj crash  (supposed  to  be  the  ruins  of  Gerasa)  are  the 
magnificent  remains  of  a  splendid  city.  The  form  of 
streets,  once  lined  with  a  double  row  of  columns,  and 
covered  with  pavement  still  nearly  entire,  in  which  are 
the  mark  of  the  chariot  wheels,  and  on  each  side  of 
which  is  an  elevated  pathway ;  two  theatres,  and  two 
grand  temples,  built  of  marble,  and  others  of  inferior 
note  ;  baths ;  a  bridge  ;  a  cemetery,  with  many  sarco- 
phagi, which  surrounded  the  city  ;  a  triumphal  arch  ;  a 
large  cistern ;  a  picturesque  tomb  fronted  with  columns, 
and  an  aqueduct  overgrown  with  wood ;  and  upwards 
of  two  hundred  and  thirty  columns  still  standing  amidst 
deserted  ruins  without  a  city  to  adorn :  all  combine  in 
presenting  to  the  view  of  the  traveller,  in  the  estimation 
of  those  who  were  successively  eye-witnesses  of  them 
both,  "  a  much  finer  mass  of  ruins"  than  even  that  of 
the  boasted  Palmyra.^     But  how  marvellously  are  the 

1  Captain  Light's  Travels,  p.  204 ;  Buckingham's  Travels,  p. 
126. 

2  Captain  Light's  Travels,  p.  204. 

3  Mariti's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  158—169. 

*  Buckingham's  Travels,  p.  300. 

*  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  199. 
6  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  pp.  317,  318. 

The  ruins  of  Djerash  were  first  discovered  by  Seetzen,  in  1806. 


106  JtDEA. 

predictions  of  their  desolation  verified,  when,  in  general, 
nothing  but  ruins  form  the  most  distinguished  rem- 
nants of  the  cities  of  Israel ;  and  when  the  multitude 
of  its  towns  are  almost  all  left,  with  many  a  vestige  to 
testify  of  their  number,  but  without  a  mark  to  tell  their 
name. 

And  your  land  shall  he  desolate^  and  your  cities  waste. 
Then  shall  the  land  enjoy  her  Sabbaths  as  long  as  it  lieth 
desolate,  and  ye  be  in  your  enemies^  land :  even  then  shall 
the  land  rest,  and  enjoy  her  Sabbaths,  &c.  A  single 
reference  to  the  Mosaic  law  respecting  the  Sabbatical 
year,  renders  the  full  import  of  this  prediction  perfectly 
mtelligible  and  obvious.  "But  in  the  seventh  year 
shall  be  a  Sabbath  of  rest  unto  the  land ;  thou  shalt 
neither  sow  thy  field  nor  prune  thy  vineyard."  And 
the  land  of  Judea  hath  even  thus  enjoyed  its  Sabbaths 
so  long  as  it  hath  lain  desolate.  In  that  country,  where 
every  spot  was  cultivated  like  a  garden  by  its  patrimo- 
nial possessor,  where  every  little  hill  rejoiced  in  its 
abundance,  where  every  steep  acclivity  was  terraced  by 
the  labour  of  man,  and  where  the  very  rocks  were 
covered  with  thick  mould,  and  rendered  fertile ;  even 
in  that  self-same  land,  with  a  temperature  the  same,* 
and  with  a  soil  unchanged  save  only  by  neglect,  a  dire 
contrast  is  now  and  has  for  a  lengthened  period  of  time 
been  displayed  by  fields  untitled  and  unsown,  and  by 
waste  and  desolated  plains.  Never  since  the  expatriated 
descendants  of  Abraham  were  driven  from  its  borders,  has 
the  land  of  Canaan  been  so  "plenteous  in  goods,"  or  so 
abundant  in  population  as  once  it  was ;  never,  as  it  did 
for  ages  unto  them,  has  it  vindicated  to  any  other  people 
a  right  to  its  possession,  or  its  own  title  of  the  land  of 

They  have  since  been  visited  by  Sheikh  Ibrahim  (Burckhardt,) 
Sir  William  Chatterton,  Mr.  Bankes,  the  Hon.  Captain  Irby,  Cap- 
tain Mangles,  Mr.  Legh,  Mr.  Leslie,  and  Mr.  Buckingham.  Both 
Burckhardt  and  Mr.  Buckingham  have  also  given  a  description 
of  them.  Many  of  the  edifices  were  built  long  after  the  period 
of  the  prediction ;  yet  they  are  not  excluded  from  the  sentence 
of  desolation. 

'  See  Brewster's  Philosophical  Journal,  No.  xvi.  p.  227. 


JUDEA.  107 

promise;  it  has  rested  from  century  to  century;  and  while 
that  marked,  and  stricken,  and  scattered  race,  who  pos- 
sess the  recorded  promise  of  the  God  of  Israel  as  their  char- 
ter to  its  final  and  everlasting  possession,  still  "  be  in  the 
land  of  their  enemies,  so  long  their  land  lieth  desolate.'^'' 
There  may  thus  almost  be  said  to  be  the  semblance  of 
a  sympathetic  feeling  between  this  bereaved  country 
and  banished  people,  as  if  the  land  of  Israel  felt  the 
miseries  of  its  absent  children,  awaited  their  return,  and 
responded  to  the  undying  love  they  bear  it,  by  the  re- 
fusal to  yield  to  other  possessors  the  rich  harvest  of  those 
fruits  with  which,  in  the  days  of  their  allegiance  to  the 
Most  High,  it  abundantly  blessed  them.  And  striking 
and  peculiar,  without  the  shadow  of  even  a  semblance 
upon  earth,  as  is  this  accordance  between  the  fate  of 
Judea  and  of  the  Jews,  it  assimilates  as  closely  (and, 
may  we  not  add,  as  miraculously?)  to  those  predictions 
respecting  both,  which  Moses  uttered  and  recorded  ere 
the  tribes  of  Israel  had  ever  set  a  foot  in  Canaan.  The 
land  shall  he  left  of  them,  and  shall  enjoy  her  rest  while 
she  lieth  desolate  without  them. 

To  the  desolate  state  of  Judea  every  traveller  bears 
witness.  The  prophetic  malediction  was  addressed  to 
the  mountains  and  the  hills,  to  the  rivers  and  to  the  val- 
leys ;  and  the  beauty  of  them  all  has  been  blighted. 
Where  the  inhabitants  once  dwelt  in  peace,  each  under 
his  own  vine,  and  under  his  own  fig  tree,  the  tyranny 
of  the  Turks,  and  the  perpetual  incursions  of  the  Arabs, 
the  last  of  a  long  list  of  oppressors,  have  spread  one 
wide  field  of  almost  unmingled  desolation.  The  plain 
of  Esdraelon,  naturally  most  fertile,  its  soil  consisting 
of  "  fine,  rich,  black  mould,"  bounded  by  Mount  Her- 
mon,  Carmel,  and  Mount  Tabor,*  and  so  extensive  as  to 
cover  about  three  hundred  square  miles,  is  a  solitude,^ 
almost  entirely  deserted ;  the  country  is  a  complete  de- 
sert.^    In  the  valley  of  Canaan,  formerly  a  beautiful, 

1  General  Straton's  MS.  Travels. 

2  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  497  ;   Maundrell's  Travels,  p.  95. 
»  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  pp.  334,  343. 


108  JUDEA. 

delicious,  and  fertile  valley,  there  is  not  a  mark  or  ves- 
tige of  cultivation.*  The  country  is  continually  overrun 
with  rebel  tribes ;  the  Arabs  pasture  their  cattle  upon 
the  spontaneous  produce  of  the  rich  plains  with  which 
it  abounds.''  Every  ancient  landmark  is  removed.  "  The 
art  of  cultivation,"  says  Volney,  "  is  in  the  most  deplor- 
aye  state,  and  the  countryman  must  sow  with  tht 
musket  in  his  hand  ;  and  no  more  is  sown  than  is  neces- 
sary for  subsistence."  "  Every  day  I  found  fields 
abandoned  by  the  plough."^  In  describing  his  journey 
through  Galilee,  Dr.  Clarke  remarks,  that  the  earth  was 
covered  with  such  a  variety  of  thistles,  that  a  complete 
collection  of  them  would  be  a  valuable  acquisition  to 
botany.*  Six  new  species  of  that  plant,  so  significant 
of  wildness,  were  discovered  by  himself  in  a  scanty 
selection.  "From  Kane-Leban  to  Beer,  amidst  the 
ruins  of  cities,  the  country,  as  far  as  the  eye  of  the  tra- 
veller can  reach,  presents  nothing  to  his  view  but  naked 
rocks,  mountains,  and  precipices,  at  the  sight  of  which 
pilgrims  are  astonished,  balked  in  their  expectations,  and 
almost  starded  in  their  faith.  "^  From  the  centre  of  the 
neighbouring  elevations  (around  Jerusalem)  is  seen  a 
wild,  rugged,  and  mountainous  desert ;  no  herds  depas- 
turing on  the  summit,  no  forests  clothing  the  acclivities, 
no  waters  flowing  through  the  valleys ;  but  one  rude 
scene  of  savage,  melancholy  waste,  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  ancient  glory  of  Judea  bows  her  head  in  widowed 
desolation. "«  It  is  needless  to  multiply  quotations  to 
prove  the  desolation  of  a  country  which  the  Turks  have 
possessed,  and  which  the  Arabs  have  plundered  for  ages. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  prove  that  the  land  mourns 
and  is  laid  waste,  and  has  become  as  a  desolate  wilderness. 
While  eye-witnesses  in  modern  times  have  thus  borne 
ample,  uniform,  and  decisive  testimony  to  the  desolation 

1  General  Straton's  MS. 

2  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  484,  491. 

•  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  413;    Volney's  Ruins,  c.  xi.  p.  7. 

*  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  451. 

«  Maundrell's  Travels,  p.  168.     Bp.  Newton. 
6  JoUiflfe's  Letters  from  Palestine,  vol.  i.  p.  104. 


JUDEA;  109 

of  Judea,  yet  such  is  the  natural  fertility  of  the  land, 
that  a  temporary  respite  from  predatory  assaults,  even 
under  the  penalty  of  grievous  exactions  and  oppressive 
bondage,  leads,  on  the  part  of  the  miserable  peasantry, 
to  a  more  extended  though  not  improved  cultivation  of 
the  lands  which  environ  their  miserable  villages ;  and, 
as  described  by  separate  travellers  at  different  times,  the 
same  spot  may  assume  a  somewhat  varied  aspect.  But 
the  general  desolation  abides  unchanged  ;  every  pro- 
phetic characteristic  remains ;  and  each  place,  when 
named,  preserves  its  peculiar  prophetic  features.  About 
a  sixth  part  of  the  plain  of  Sharon,  and  about  a  sixteenth 
of  the  far  larger  plain  of  Esdraelon  is  scratched  by  the 
plough.  The  cultivation  is  everywhere  wretched.  And 
though  an  extensive  range  of  ripened  grain  may  in  some 
places  present  to  view,  as  witnessed  by  the  writer,  a 
seemingly  rich  prospect,  which,  on  glancing  over  its 
golden  surface  at  a  distance,  the  yellow  ears  overtopping 
the  weeds,  gives  promise  of  a  rich  harvest ;  yet  not  a 
single  shock,  as  in  our  less  fertile  soil  and  far  colder 
clime,  falls  heavy  into  the  hands  of  the  reaper.  For  on 
closer  inspection  the  ranker  weeds  are  but  ill  concealed  ; 
the  grain  is  p^uced  to  less  than  half  of  what  it  seemed  : 
and  not  unfw^^tly,  whenever  the  cropped  ears  of  the 
thin  barley  have  been  removed,  a  field  of  thistles  appears 
in  their  stead,  covering  the  ground  so  closely,  that  they 
form  the  most  abundant  and  seem  the  only  crop. 

But  specially  of  the  mountains  of  Israel  it  may  be  said, 
that  they  have  been  always  desolate  ;  and  they  specially 
have  been  a  derision.  At  first  sight  they  seem  to  merit 
it.  They  are  bleak  and  bare.  Their  aspect,  as  they 
rise  naked  from  the  plain,  is  that  of  dreary  desolation,  if 
not  of  irreclaimable  barrenness.  The  marvel  is  that 
they  should  ever  have  formed  a  large  portion  of  a  glo- 
rious land,  or  that  those  hills  should  have  rejoiced  on 
every  or  on  any  side,  on  which  a  solemn  stillness  and 
gloomy  sadness  now  universally  rest.  The  Christian  or 
the  pilgrim  Jew  may  well  ask  himself,  in  doubt,  Can 
these  be  the  mountains  of  Israel }  And  the  skeptic  may 
10 


110  JUDEA. 

deceitfully  think  to  justify  himself  in  the  avennent, 
apparently  warranted  by  pointing  to  the  desolate  hills  of 
Judea,  if  such  was  the  seat  of  the  glory  of  Solomon, 
surely  the  record  of  that  glory  is  a  fable.  Assuredly  the 
land  has  another  and  opposite  aspect  and  character  now 
from  that  which  it  bore,  when  it  was  a  good  land;  a 
lund  of  wheat,  and  barley ,  and  vines,  and  Jig  trees,  and 
pomegranates  ;  a  land  of  oil-olive  and  honey ;  a  land 
wherein  Israel  ate  bread  wit/wut  scarceness,  and  lacked 
not  any  thing.  Deut.  viii.  7 — 9.  The  contrast  is  so 
great  and  dire,  that  some  visible  demonstration  may  be 
needful  to  sustain  a  faltering  faith,  and  refute  an  ap- 
parently rational  incredulity.  But  the  unquestioned  and 
unquestionable  fact  is,  as  predicted,  that  the  mountains 
of  Israel  are  waste  and  desolate.  And  the  more  nearly 
they  are  seen,  the  more  manifest  is  the  proof,  and  the 
more  astonishing  is  the  fact,  that  so  marvellous  a  deso- 
lation has  come  over  them.  Approaching  their  base, 
the  prospect  becomes  more  saddening ;  and,  looking 
from  beneath,  nothing  in  many  places  but  the  stony  fronts 
of  the  empty  terraces,  successively  receding  and  ascend- 
ing, is  to  be  seen,  desolation  having  trodden  on  every 
step.  And  the  frowning  mountains  look  down  on  those 
who  pass  beneath,  as  if  they  angrily  responded  to  the 
reproaches  which  have  been  cast  upon  them,  and  uttered 
forth  the  judgments  which  they  bear.  Still  nothing  can 
be  more  palpably  manifest,  than  that  the  mountains  have 
been  laid  desolate,  and  that  the  time  was,  when  art,  and 
climate,  and  soil  combined  their  utmost  powers  to  adorn 
and  enrich  them  as  a  garden  which  the  Lord  had  blessed. 
And  with  a  glance  the  wonder  ceases,  how  they  were 
of  old  renowned  for  beauty  and  fertility ;  and  the  more 
just  astonishment  cannot  be  repressed,  how  such  exten- 
sive regions,  terraced  all  over,  and  ever  ready  for  re- 
newed cultivation,  could  have  lain  desolate  for  so  many 
generations,  or  how,  were  the  restraining  cause  removed, 
they  could  remain  unproductive  for  a  single  year.  As- 
cending on  the  way  from  Gaza  to  Jerusalem,  between 
two  hills,  so  as  to  pass  by  the  lowest  level,  the  writer 


r 


JUDEA.  Ill 


counted  on  one  of  them  sixty-seven  successive  terraces, 
perfectly  distinct,  and  in  many  places  complete.  The 
whole  scene  around,  in  an  extensive  view,  gave  similar 
demonstration  of  ancient  glory  and  existing  desolation, 
the  extreme  contrast  rendering  each  the  more  astonishing. 
Mountain  after  mountain,  without  exception,  is  lined 
throughout,  from  the  base  to  the  summit,  with  terraces 
fading  only  in  the  distance,  all  uncovered  now  but  by 
weeds  and  creeping  thorns,  which  rise  not  enough  to 
hide  the  stony  fronts  which  of  old  were  cut  from  the 
rock,  or  built  by  man,  to  clothe  the  mountains  with 
vines,  and  fig  trees,  and  pomegranates,  and  olives,  ^nd 
other  fruit»f  of  which,  but  in  isolated  spots  hid  from  the 
general  view,  not  a  vestige  remains. 

C  arm  el  was  renowned,  even  among  the  mountains  of 
Israel,  for  its  excellency,  as  denoted  by  its  very  name,  a 
fruitful  field.  Such  was  its  fruitfulness,  and  so  close  the 
thickets  on  its  top,  that,  as  most  forcibly  indicating  the 
impossibility  of  the  escape  of  any  from  the  judgments 
of  God,  it  is  said.  Though  they  dig  into  hell,  thence 
shall  my  hand  take  them;  though  they  climb  up  to 
heaven,  thence  will  I  bring  them  down ;  and  though 
they  hide  themselves  in  the  top  of  Carmel,  I  will  search 
and  take  them  out  thence,  &c.  Amos  ix.  2,  3.  Yet  the 
same  prophet  declared,  The  top  of  Carmel  shall  wither.'*- 
And  it  is  withered,  so  that  no  man  could  hide  himself 
there  :  and  on  looking  along  its  top,  a  solitary  individual 
may  be  seen  as  far  as  the  eye,  in  an  unobstructed  view, 
can  reach  to  discern  him.  Bashan  and  Carmel  shake 
off  their  fruits ; — but  Israel  shall  yet  feed  on  Carmel 
and  Bashan. 

But  yet  in  it  shall  he  a  tenth,  and  it  shall  return  and 
shall  he  eaten ;  as  a  teil  tree  and  an  oak,  whose  substance 
is  in  them  when  they  cast  their  leaves.  Though  the  cities 
be  waste  and  the  land  be  desolate,  it  is  not  from  the 
poverty  of  the  soil  that  the  fields  are  abandoned  by  the 
plough,  nor  from  any  diminution  of  its  ancient  and  na- 
tural fertility  that  the  land  has  rested  for  so  many  gene- 
'  Amos  i.  2. 


112  JUDEA. 

rations.  Judea  was  not  forced  only  by  artificial  means, 
or  from  local  £md  temporary  causes,  into  a  luxuriant  cul- 
tivation, such  as  a  barren  country  might  have  been,  con- 
cerning -which  it  would  not  have  needed  a  prophet  to 
tell,  that  if  once  devastated  and  abandoned  it  would  ul- 
timately and  permanently  revert  into  its  original  sterility. 
Palestine  at  all  times  held  a  fac  different  rank  among  the 
richest  countries  of  the  world ;  and  it  was  not  a  bleak 
and  sterile  portion  of  the  earth,  nor  a  land  which  even 
many  ages  of  desolation  and  neglect  could  impoverish, 
that  God  gave,  in  possession  and  by  covenant,  to  the 
seed  of  Abraham.  No  longer  cultivated  as  a  garden, 
but  left  like  a  wilderness,  Judea  is  indeed  greatly  changed 
from  what  it  was ;  all  that  human  ingenuity  and  labour 
did  devise,  erect,  or  cultivate,  men  have  laid  waste  and 
desolate  ;  all  the  "  plenteous  goods,"  with  which  it  was 
enriched,  adorned,  and  blessed,  have  fallen  like  seared 
and  withered  leaves,  when  their  greenness  is  gone ;  and, 
stripped  of  its  "  ancient  splendour,"  it  is  left  as  an  oak 
whose  leaf  fadeth :  but  its  inherent  sources  of  fertility 
are  not  dried  up ;  the  natural  richness  of  the  soil  is  un- 
blighted ;  tlie  substance  is  in  itj  strong  as  that  of  the 
teil  tree  or  the  solid  oak,  which  retain  their  substance, 
when  they  cast  their  leaves.  And  as  the  leafless  oak 
waits  throughout  winter  for  the  genial  warmth  of  return- 
ing spring,  to  be  clothed  with  renewed  foliage,  so  the 
once  glorious  land  of  Judea  is  yet  full  of  latent  vigour, 
or  of  vegetable  power  strong  as  ever,  ready  to  shoot 
forth,  even  "better  than  at  the  beginning,"  whenever 
the  sun  of  heaven  shall  shine  on  it  again,  and  the  "  holy 
seed "  be  prepared  for  being  finally  "  the  substance 
thereof."  The  substance  that  is  in  it,  which  alone  has 
here  to  be  proved,  is,  in  few  words,  thus  described  by 
an  enemy :  "  The  land  in  the  plains  is  fat  and  loamy, 

and  exhibits  every  sign  ol  the  greatest  fecundity 

Were  nature  assisted  by  art,  the  fruits  of  the  most  distant 

countries  might   be  produced   within  the   distance  of 

twenty  leagues."*    "  Galilee,"  says  Malte-Brun,  "  would 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  i.  pp.  308,  317. 


JUDEA.  113 

be  a  paradise,  were  it  inhabited  by  an  industrious  people, 
under  an  enlightened  government.  Vine-stocks  are  to 
be  seen  here  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter."^ 

/  will  give  it  into  the  hands  of  strangers  for  a  prey, 
and  unto  the  wicked  of  the  earth  for  a  spoil.  The  rob- 
bers shall  enter  into  it  and  defile  it.  Instead  of  abiding 
under  a  settled  and  enlightened  government,  Judea  has 
been  the  scene  of  frequent  invasions,  "  which  have  in- 
troduced a  succession  of  foreign  nations  (des  peuples 
Strangers. ^^y  "  When  the  Ottomans  took  Syria  from 
the  Mamelouks,  they  considered  it  as  the  spoil  of  a  van- 
quished enemy.  According  to  this  law,  the  life  and 
property  of  the  vanquished  belong  to  the  conqueror. 
The  government  is  far  from  disapproving  of  a  system  of 
rohhery  and  plunder  which  it  finds  so  profitable."^ 

Many  pastors  have  destroyed  my  vineyard,  they  have 
trodden  my  portion  under  foot.  The  ravages  commit- 
ted even  by  hosts  of  enemies  are  in  general  only  tempo- 
rary ;  or  if  an  invader  settle  in  a  conquered  country,  on 
becoming  the  possessor,  he  cultivates  and  defends  it. 
And  it  is  the  proper  office  of  government  to  render  life 
and  property  secure.  In  neither  case  has  it  fared  thus 
with  Judea.  But  besides  successive  invasions  by  foreign 
nations,  and  the  systematic  spoliation  exercised  by  a 
despotic  government,  other  causes  have  conspired  to 
perpetuate  its  desolation,  and  to  render  abortive  the  sub- 
stance that  is  in  it.  Among  these  has  chiefly  to  be  num- 
bered, its  being  literally  trodden  underfoot  by  many  pas- 
tors. Volney  devotes  a  chapter,  fifty  pages  in  length,  to 
a  description,  as  he  entitles  it,  "  of  the  pastoral  or  loan- 
deling  tribes  of  Syria,"  chiefly  of  the  Bedouin  Arabs, 
by  whom,  especially,  Judea  is  incessantly  traversed. 
"  The  pashalics  of  Aleppo  and  Damascus  may  be  com- 
puted to  contain  about  thirty  thousand  wandering  Turk- 
men (Turcomans.)  All  their  property  consists  in  cattle." 
In  the  same  pashalics,  the  number  of  the  Curds  "  ex- 

'  Schultze,  in  Pallas,  cited  by  Malte-Brun,  Geogr.  vol.  ii.  p.  148 

2  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  356. 

3  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  370,  381 

10* 


114  JUDEA. 

ceeds  twenty  thousand  tents  and  huts,"  or  an  equal  num- 
ber of  armed  men.  "  The  Curds  are  almost  everywhere 
looked  upon  as  robbers.  Like  the  Turkmen,  these 
Curds  are  joas^ors  and  wanderers.^  A  third  wandering 
people  in  Syria  are  the  Bedouin  Arabs."''  "  It  often 
happens  that  even  individuals,  turned  robbers  in  order  to 
wiilidraw  themselves  from  the  laws  or  from  tyranny, 
unite  and  form  a  little  camp,  which  maintain  themselves 
by  arms,  and,  increasing,  become  new  hordes  and  new 
tribes.  We  may  pronounce,  that  in  cultivable  countries 
the  wandering  life  originates  in  the  injustice  or  want  of 
policy  of  the  government ;  and  that  the  sedentary  and 
the  cultivating  state  is  that  to  which  mankind  is  most 
naturally  inclined."^  "It  is  evident  that  agriculture 
must  be  very  precarious  in  such  a  country,  and  that, 
under  a  government  like  that  of  the  Turks,  it  is  safer  to 
lead  a  wandering  life  than  to  choose  a  settled  habitation, 
and  rely  for  subsistence  on  agriculture."''  "  The  Turk- 
men, the  Curds,  and  the  Bedouins,  have  no  fixed  habita- 
tions, but  keep  perpetually  wandering  with  their  tents 
and  herds,  in,limited  districts,  of  which  they  look  upon 
themselves  as  the  proprietors.  The  Arabs  spread  over 
the  whole  frontier  of  Syria,  and  even  the  plains  of  Pa- 
lestine."^— Thus,  contrary  to  their  natural  inclination, 
the  peasants,  often  forced  to  abandon  a  settled  life,  and 
pastoral  tribes  in  great  numbers,  or  many,  and  without 
fixed  habitations,  divide  the  country,  as  it  were  by  mu- 
tual consent,  and  apportion  it  in  limited  districts  amon^ 
themselves  by  an  assumed  right  of  property ;  and  the 
Arabs,  subdivided  also  into  different  tribes,  spread  over 
the  plains  of  Palestine,  "  wandering  perpetually,"  as  if 
on  very  purpose  to  tread  it  down. — What  could  be 
more  unlikely  or  unnatural  in  such  a  land!  yet  what 
more  striking  and  strictly  true !  or  how  else  could  the 
effect  of  the  vision  have  been  seen !  "  Many  pastors 
have  destroyed  my  vineyard;  they  have  trodden  my 
portion  under  foot.'' ^ 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  370,  i.  4, 5.  2  ibid.  i.  377. 

3  Ibid.  ii.  383.  -« Ibid.  ii.  387.  ^  ibid.  ii.  367, 368. 


JUDEA.  115 

Ye  shall  be  as  a  garden  that  hath  no  water.  How  long 
shall  the  land  mourn^  and  the  herbs  of  every  field  wither, 
for  the  wickedriess  of  them  that  dwell  therein'? — "  In  all 
hot  countries,  wherever  there  is  water,  vegetation  may 
be  perpetually  maintained  and  made  to  produce  an  un- 
interrupted succession  of  fruits  to  flowers,  and  flowers  to 
fruit."^  "  The  remains  of  cisterns  are  to  be  found, 
(throughout  Judea,)  in  which  they  collected  the  rain- 
water ;  and  traces  of  the  canals  by  which  those  waters 
were  distributed  on  the  fields. — These  labours  necessa- 
rily created  a  prodigious  fertility  under  an  ardent  sun, 
where  a  little  water  was  the  only  requisite  to  revive  the 
vegetable  world.'"'  Such  labours,  with  very  slight  ex- 
ceptions, are  now  unknown.  Judea  is  as  a  garden  that 
hath  no  water,  and  the  herbs  of  every  field  wither.  "  We 
see  there  none  of  that  gay  carpeting  of  grass  and  flow- 
ers which  decorate  the  meadows  of  Normandy  and 
Flanders,  nor  those  clumps  of  beautiful  trees  which  give 
such  richness  and  animation  to  the  landscapes  of  JBur- 
gundy  and  Brittany. — The  land  of  Syria  has  almost 
always  a  dusty  appearance.^  Had  not  these  countries 
been  ravaged  by  the  hand  of  wan,  they  might  perhaps  at 
this  day  have  been  shaded  with  forests.  That  its  pro- 
ductions do  not  correspond  with  its  natural  advantages, 
is  less  owing  to  its  physical  than  political  state.  "^  "  The 
whole  of  the  mountain  (near  Tiberias)  is  covered  with 
dry  grass.  "^ 

The  forts  and  towers  shall  be  for  dens  for  ever.  At 
every  step  we  meet  with  ruins  of  towers^  dungeons,  and 
castles  with  fosses — frequently  inhabited  by  jackals,  owls, 
and  scorpions. ^^^ 

The  multitude  of  the  city  shall  be  left.  The  defenced 
city  shall  be  desolate,  and  the  habitation  forsaken.  There 
are  f»  "  prodigious  quantity  of  ruins  dispersed  over  the 

1  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  359. 

2  Malte-Brun's  Geo.  vol.  ii.  pp.  150,  151. 

3  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  359. 

4  Ibid.  pp.  359,  360. 

^  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  331. 
«  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  336. 


116  JUDEA. 

plains,  and   even  in  the   mountains,  at  this  day  de- 
serted.''' 

There  shall  the  calf  feed  ^  and  there  shall  he  lie  dovm 
and  consume  the  branches  thereof  A  pasture  of  fiocks. 
There  shall  the  lambs  feed  after  their  manner^  and  tlw 
waste  place  of  the  fat  ones  shall  strangers  eat.  Josephus 
describes  Galilee,  of  which  he-  was  the  governor,  as 
"  full  of  plantations  of  trees  of  all  sorts,  the  soil  uni- 
versally rich  and  fruitful,  and  all,  without  the  exception  i 
of  a  single  part,  cultivated  by  the  inhabitants.  More- 
over," he  adds,  "  the  cities  He  here  very  thick,  and 
there  are  very  many  villages,  which  are  so  full  of  people 
by  the  richness  of  their  soil,  that  the  very  least  of  them 
contained  above  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants."^  Such 
was  Galilee,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era, 
several  centuries  after  the  prophecy  was  delivered  ;  but 
now,  "  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  all  the  other  parts 
of  Galilee  which  afford  pasture,  are  occupied  by  Arab 
tribes,  around  whose  brown  tents  the  sheep  and  lambs 
gambol  to  the  sound  of  the  reed,  which  at  night-fall 
calls  them  home."^  The  calf  feeds  and  lies  down 
amidst  the  ruins  of  the  cities,  and  consumes,  without 
hinderance,  the  branches  of  the  trees;  and  however 
changed  may  be  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants,  the 
lambs  feed  after  their  manner,  and,  while  the  land 
mourns,  and  the  merry-hearted  sigh,  they  gambol  to  the 
sound  of  the  reed. 

The  precise  and  complete  contrast  between  the 
ancient  and  existing  state  of  Palestine,  as  separately 
described  by  Jewish  and  Roman  historians  and  by  mo- 
dern travellers,  is  so  strikingly  exemplified  in  their  oppo- 
site descriptions,  that  in  reference  to  whatever  constituted 
the  beauty  and  the  glory  of  the  country,  or  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  an  entire  change  is  manifest,  even  in  mi- 
nute circumstances.  The  universal  richness  and  fruit- 
fulness  of  the  soil  of  Galilee,  together  with  its  being 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  368. 

*  Josephus's  Wars,  book  iii.  chap.  iii.  §  2. 

'  Schulze,  quoted  by  Malte-Brun,  vol.  ii.  p.  148. 


JUDEA.  117 

"  full  of  plantations  of  all  sorts  of  trees,"  are  repre- 
sented by  Josephus  as  "inviting  the  most  slothful  to 
take  pains  in  its  cultivation."  And  the  other  provinces 
of  the  Holy  Land  are  also  described  by  him  as  having 
*^  abundance  of  trees,  full  of  autumnal  fruit,  both  that 
which  grows  wild  and  that  which  is  the  effect  of  cultiva- 
tion."^ Tacitus  relates,  that,  besides  all  the  fruits  of  Italy, 
the  palm  and  balsam  tree  flourished  in  the  fertile  soil  of 
Judea.  And  he  records  the  great  carefulness  with  which, 
when  the  circulation  of  the  juices  seemed  to  call  for  it, 
they  gently  made  an  incision  in  the  branches  of  the  bal- 
sam, with  a  shell  or  pointed  stone,  not  venturing  to  apply 
a  knife. ^  No  sign  of  such  art  or  care  is  now  to  be  seen 
throughout  the  land.  The  balm  tree  has  disappeared 
where  it  long  flourished ;  and  hardier  plants  have  pe- 
rished from  other  causes  than  the  want  of  due  care 
in  their  cultivation.  And  instead  of  relating  how  the 
growth  of  a  delicate  tree  is  promoted,  and  the  medi- 
cinal liquor,  at  the  same  time,  extracted  from  its  branches, 
by  a  nicety  or  perfectness  of  art  worthy  of  the  notice 
of  a  Tacitus,  a  different  task  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the 
traveller  from  a  far  land,  who  describes  the  customs  of 
those  who  now  dwell  where  such  arts  were  practised. 
"  The  olive  trees  (near  Arimathea)  are  daily  perishing 
through  age,  the  ravages  of  contending  factions,  and 
even  from  secret  mischief.  The  Mamelouks  having  cut 
down  all  the  olive  trees,  for  the  pleasure  they  take  in 
destroying,  or  to  make  jfires,  Yafa  hast  lost  its  greatest 
convenience."^  Instead  of  "  abundance  of  trees  being 
still  the  effect  of  cultivation,"  such,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  been  the  effect  of  these  ravages,  that  many  places  in 
Palestine  are  now  "  absolutely  destitute  of  fuel."  Yet 
in  this  devastation,  and  in  all  its  progress,  may  be  read 
the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  which  not  only 
described  the  desolate  cities  of  Judea  as  a  pasture  of 
flocks,  and  as  places  for  the  calf  to  feed  and  lie  down, 

'  Josephus's  Wars,  book  iii.  chap.  iii.  §  4. 

2  Taciti  Hist.  lib.  v.  cap.  vi. 

3  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  332,  333. 


118  JUDEA. 

and  consume  the  branches  thereof;  but  which,  with 
equal  truth,  also  declared,  when  the  houghs  thereof  are 
withered,  they  shall  he  hroken  off";  the  women  come  and 
set  them  on  Jire. 

For  it  is  a  people  of  no  understanding.  "  The  most 
simple  arts  are  in  a  state  of  barbarism.  The  sciences 
are  totally  unknown."* 

Upon  the  land  of  my  people  shall  come  up  thorns  and 
briers.  "  The  earth  produces  only  hriers  and  worm- 
wood."^  A  thorny  shrub,  (Merar,)  and  others  of  a  simi- 
lar kind,  abound  throughout  the  desolated  plains  and 
hills  of  Palestine.  Some  of  the  latter  are  so  closely 
beset,  in  many  places,  with  thorns,  that  they  can  be 
ascended  only  with  great  difficulty :  and  "  the  whole 
district  of  Tiberias  is  covered  with  a  thorny  shrub. "^ 

Your  highways  shall  he  desolate.'''  The  highways  lie 
waste;  the  watfaring  man  ceaseth.^  So  great  must  have 
been  the  intercourse,  in  ancient  times,  between  the 
populous  and  numerous  cities  of  Judea,  and  so  much 
must  that  intercourse  have  been  increased  by  the  fre- 
quent and  regular  journeyings,  from  every  quarter,  of 
multitudes  going  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship,  in  observ- 
ance of  the  rites,  and  in  obedience  to  the  precepts  of 
their  law,  that  scarcely  any  country  ever  possessed  such 
means  of  crowded  highways,  or  any  similar  reason  for 
abounding  so  much  in  wayfaring  men.  In  the  days  of 
Isaiah,  who  uttered  the  latest  of  these  predictions,  "  the 
land  was  full  of  horses,  neither  was  there  any  end  of 
their  chariots."  And  there  not  only  subsist  to  this  day, 
in  the  land  of  Judea,  numerous  remains  of  paved  ways 
formed  by  the  Romans  at  a  much  later  period,  and 
"  others  evidently  not  Roman  ;"^  but  among  the  pre- 
cious literary  remains  of  antiquity  which  have  come 
down  to  our  times,  three  Roman  itineraries  are  to  be 
numbered,  that  can  here  be  confidently  appealed   to. 

'  Volney's  Travels,  p.  442.  2  Volney's  Ruins,  p.  9. 

3  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  333. 

<  Levii.  xxvi.  22.  »  Isa.  xxxiii.  8. 

6  General  Straton's  MS. 


JUDEA.  119 

From  these,  and  from  the  testimony  of  Arrian  and  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus,  as  well  as  of  Josephus  and  Eusebius, 
it  appears,  as  Reland  has  clearly  shown,  that  in  Pales- 
tine, long  after  it  came  mider  the  power  of  the  Romans, 
and  after  it  was  greatly  debased  from  its  ancient  glory, 
there  were  forty-two  different  highways,  (viae  publicse,) 
all  being  distinctly  specified,  which  intersected  it  in 
various  directions  ;  and  the  number  of  miles  exceeding 
eight  hundred  and  eighty.*  Yet  the  prophecy  is  hterally 
true.  "  In  the  interior  part  of  the  country,  there  are 
neither  great  roads,  nor  canals,  nor  even  bridges  over 
the  greatest  part  of  the  rivers  and  torrents,  however  ne- 
cessary they  may  be  in  winter.  Between  town  and 
town  there  are  neither  posts  nor  public  conveyances. 
Nobody  travels  alone,  from  the  insecurity  of  the  roads. 
One  must  wait  for  several  travellers  who  are  going  to 
the  same  place,  or  take  advantage  of  the  passage  of 
some  great  man  who  assumes  the  office  of  protector, 
but  is  more  frequently  the  oppressor  of  the  caravan. 
The  roads  in  the  mountains  are  extremely  bad ;  and  the 
inhabitants  are  so  far  from  levelling  them,  that  they  en- 
deavour to  make  them  more  rugged,  in  order,  as  they 
say,  to  cure  the  Turks  of  their  desire  to  introduce  their 
cavalry.  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  not  a  wagon  or 
cart  in  all  Syria. "^  "  There  are,"  continues  Volney, 
"  no  inns  anywhere.  The  lodgings  in  the  khans  (or 
places  of  reception  for  travellers)  are  cells  where  you 
find  nothing  but  bare  walls,  dust,  and  sometimes  scor- 
pions. The  keeper  of  the  khan  gives  the  traveller  the 
key  and  the  mat,  and  he  provides  himself  the  rest.  He 
must  therefore  carry  with  him  his  bed,  his  kitchen  uten- 
sils, and  even  his  provisions ;  for  frequently  not  even 
bread  is  to  be  found  in  the  villages."^  "  There  are  no 
carriages  in  the  country,"  says  another  traveller,  "  under 
any  denomination."     "Among  the  hills  of  Palestine,""* 

'  Relandi  Palaestina  ex  monumentis  veteribus  illustrata,  torn.  i. 
lib.  ii.  cap.  iii.  iv.  v.  pp.  405,  425. 

2  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  417,  419. 

3  Ibid.  pp.  417, 418,  419.  "  Wilson's  Travels,  p.  100. 


120  JUDEA. 

according  to  a  third  witness,  "  the  road  is  impassable  ; 
and  the  traveller  finds  himself  among  a  set  of  infamous 
and  ignorant  thieves,  who  would  cut  his  throat  for  a 
farthing,  and  rob  him  of  his  money  for  the  mere  plea- 
sure of  doing  it."^  In  a  country  where  there  is  a  total 
want  of  wheel-carriages  of  every  description,  ttie  high- 
ways, however  excellent  and  nifmerous  they  once  might 
have  been,  must  lie  waste;  and  where  such  dangers 
have  to  be  encountered  at  every  step,  and  such  priva- 
tions at  every  stage,  it  is  not  now  to  be  wondered  that 
the  wayfaring  man  ceaseth.  But  let  the  disciples  of 
Volney  tell  by  what  dictates  of  human  wisdom  the  whole 
of  his  description  of  these  existing  facts  was  summed  up, 
in  a  brief  sentence,  by  Moses  and  Isaiah ;  by  the  former, 
thirty-three,  and,  by  the  latter,  twenty-five  centuries 
past. 

/  will  send  wild  beasts  among  you  which  shall  devour 
your  cattle  /^  /  will  make  you  waste ;  and  I  will  send 
upon  you  evil  beasts,  &c.^  Palestine,  to  this  day,  is  over- 
run by  wild  beasts.  Hyenas,  lynxes,  wild  boars,  bears, 
foxes,  wolves,  and  jackals  abound  both  in  the  moun- 
tains and  plains.  After  sunset  the  Bedouin  fires,  espe- 
cially in  the  south,  where  flocks  abound,  are  seen  blaz- 
ing at  various  distances  over  the  face  of  the  country,  in 
order  to  save  the  cattle,  gathered  together,  from  being 
devoured  by  the  wild  beasts.  Sleeping  in  a  tent  at 
Naplose,  the  author  was  wakened  by  the  howling  of 
wild  beasts,  and  the  responding  and  mingled  barking 
of  dogs.  On  the  sea-shore,  at  the  foot  of  Carmel,  two 
lynxes  were  seen  late  at  night  at  the  door  of  an  adjoin- 
ing tent.  And  though  detached  from  the  other  moun- 
tains of  Judea,  and  situated  on  the  sea-side,  Carmel  is 
still,  as  it  has  long  been,  "  a  habitation  of  wild  beasts."* 
The  writer  was  there  informed  by  Lord  Rokeby,  that  one 
of  his  servants  had  seen  many  hyenas  at  Jenin,  of  which 
he  counted  sixteen ;  and  another  stated  the  number  was 

'  Richardson's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  225. 

2  Deut.  xxvi.  22.  3  Ezek.  v.  17. 

*  Mariti's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  140. 


JUDEA.  121 

immense.  And,  at  the  same  time,  Lord  Claude  Hamil- 
ton stated,  that  on  the  plain  of  Jericho  and  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan  he  had  seen  wild  boars  and  innumerable 
traces  of  them.  Even  in  the  daytime,  the  wolf,  the 
fox,  the  jackal,  or  the  hyena,  is  occasionally  seen  (as 
•nay  here  be  personally  testified)  by  the  passing  tra- 
veller. The  Lord  hath  not  yet  returned  to  visit  the 
vineyard  which  his  own  right  hand  did  plant ;  and  of 
the  land  of  Judea,  which  he  gave  to  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham by  an  everlasting  covenant,  it  may  literally  be  said, 
The  hoar  out  of  the  wood  doth  waste  it^  and  the  wild 
beast  of  the  field  doth  devour  it.  But,  looking  beyond 
the  time  of  these  grievous  desolations,  the  promise 
stands  sure.  "  I  will  make  with  them  a  covenant 
of  peace,  and  will  cause  the  evil  beasts  to  cease  out 
of  the  land :  and  they  shall  dwell  safely  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  sleep  in  the  woods."  But  to  this  day  the  pro- 
phetic denunciation  retains  its  undiminished  as  unre- 
pealed power. 

The  spoilers  shall  come  upon  all  high  places  through  the 
wilderness.  The  robbers  shall  enter  into  it,  &c.  The 
land  of  Israel  has  not  only  been  given  into  the  hands  of 
strangers  for  a  prey,  and  unto  the  wicked  of  the  earth 
for  a  spoil,  as  foreign  nations  have  successively  subju- 
gated and  despoiled  it ;  but  it  has  also  been  the  prey  of 
bordering  marauders,  to  whose  assaults,  till  recently  and 
partially  checked  by  the  pasha  of  Egypt,  it  has  for  ages 
been  exposed.  "  These  precautions,  on  the  part  of  tra- 
vellers, are  above  all  necessary  in  the  countries  exposed 
to  the  Arabs,  such  as  Palestine  and  the  whole  frontier 
of  the  desert."^  The  spoilers  shall  come  from  all  high 
places  through  the  wilderness,  said  the  prophet.  Pre- 
cautions against  robbers  are  above  all  necessary, 
along  the  whole  frontier  of  the  desert,  says  Volney. 
"  The  Arabs  are  plunderers  of  the  cultivated  lands, 
and  robbers  on  the  high-roads.  On  the  slightest 
alarm  the  Arabs  cut  down  their  (the  peasants')  har- 
vests, seize  their  flocks,  &c.  The  peasants  with  good 
'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  417. 
11 


122  JUDEA. 

cause  call  them  thieves.  The  Arab  makes  nis  incur- 
sions against  hostile  tribes,  or  seeks  plunder  in  the  coun- 
try or  on  the  highways.  He  became  a  robber  fron: 
greediness,  and  such  is  in  fact  his  present  character.  A 
plunderer  rather  than  a  warrior,  the  Arab  attacks  only  to 
despoil.*  Such  is  the  systematic  spoliation  and  robbery 
to  which  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine  were  subjected  for 
ages. 

TJie  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  land  of  Israel 
shall  eat  their  bread  with  carefulness,  and  drink  their 
water  loith  astonishment^  that  her  land  may  be  desolate 
from  all  that  is  therein,  because  of  the  violence  of  all  them 
that  dwell  therein.  "  In  the  great  cities"  (in  Syria,  none 
of  which  are  in  the  Holy  Land,)  "  the  people  have  much 
of  that  dissipated  and  careless  air  which  they  usually 
have  with  us,  because  there,  as  well  as  here,"  says  Vol- 
ney,  alluding  to  France,  "  inured  to  suffering  from  habit, 
and  devoid  of  reflection  from  ignorance,  they  enjoy  a 
kind  of  security.  Having  nothing  to  lose,  they  are  in  no 
dread  of  being  plundered.  The  merchant,  on  the  con- 
trary, lives  in  a  state  of  perpetual  alarm,  under  the  double 
apprehension  of  acquiring  no  more,  and  losing  what  he 
possesses.  He  trembles  lest  he  should  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  rapacious  authority,  which  would  consider  an  air 
of  satisfaction  as  a  proof  of  opulence  and  the  signal  for 
extortion.  The  same  dread  prevails  throughout  the  vil- 
lages, where  every  peasant  is  afraid  of  exciting  the  envy 
of  his  equals,  and  the  avarice  of  the  Aga  and  his  soldiers. 
In  such  a  country,  where  the  subject  is  perpetually 
watched  by  a  despoiling  government,  he  must  assume  a 
serious  countenance  for  the  same  reason  that  he  wears 
ragged  clothes  ;"^  or,  as  the  description  might  appro- 
priately have  been  concluded,  in  the  very  words  of  the 
prophet,  "  because  of  the  violence  of  them  that  dwell 
therein." 

They  shall  be  ashamed  of  i)our  revenues.  "  From  the 
state  of  the  contributions  of  each  pashalic,  it  appears  that 

'  Volney's  Travels,  chap,  zxiii. 
2  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  pp.  477,  478. 


JUDEA.  123 

the  annual  sum  paid  by  Syria  into  the  Kasna,  or  treasury 
of  the  Sultan,  amounts  to  2345  purses  ;  viz. 

For  Aleppo 800  purses. 

Tripoli 750 

Damascus 45 

Acre      . 750 

Palestine — 


2345  purses ; 
wmch  are  equal  to  2,931,250  livres,  or  ^£122, 135  ster- 
ling." After  the  specification  of  some  incidental  sources 
of  revenue,  it  is  added,  "  we  cannot  be  far  from  the 
truth,  if  we  compute  the  total  of  the  sultan's  revenue 
from  Syria  to  be  7,500,000  livres,"  (^6312,500  sterling,)^ 
or  less  than  the  third  part  of  one  million  sterling,  and 
less  than  a  seventh  part  of  what  it  yielded,  in  tribute, 
unto  Egypt,  long  after  the  prophecies  were  sealed. 
This  is  the  whole  amount  that  a  government  which  has 
reached  the  acme  of  despotism,  and  which  accounts  pil- 
lage a  right,  and  ail  property  its  own,  can  extort  from 
impoverished  Syria.  But,  insignificant  as  this  sum  is, 
as  the  revenues  of  those  extensive  territories  which  in- 
cluded in  ancient  times  several  opulent  and  powerful 
states,  the  greater  part  must  be  deducted  from  it,  before 
estimating  the  pitiful  pittance,  which,  under  the  name  of 
revenue,  its  oppressive  masters  can  now  drain  from  the 
land  of  Israel.  A  single  glance  at  the  preceding  state- 
ment aflfords  the  obvious  means  of  distinguishing  the 
comparative  desolation  and  poverty  of  the  different  pro- 
vinces of  Syria.  And  the  least  unproductive  of  these  in 
revenue,  the  pashalics  of  Aleppo  and  Tripoli,  and  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  what  now  forms  the  pashalic  of  Acre, 
were  not  included  within  the  boundaries  of  ancient  Judea. 
Palestine,  containing  the  ancient  territory  of  Philistia, 
and  part  of  Judea,  was  then  gifted  in  whole,  by  the  sul- 
tan, to  two  individuals.  The  very  extensive  pashalic 
of  Damascus,  so  unproductive  of  revenue,  includes 
Jerusalem,  and  a  great  proportion  of  ancient  Judea ;  so 
»  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  360. 


124  JUDEA. 

that  of  it,  even  with  greater  propriety  than  of  the  rest,  it 
may  be  said,  they  shall  he  asJiarmd  of  your  revenues. 

Instead  of  viewing  separately  each  special  prediction, 
the  prophecies  respecting  the  desolation  of  the  land  of 
Judea  are  so  abundant,  that  several  may  be  grouped  to- 
gether ;  and  their  meaning  is  so  clear,  that  any  explana- 
tory remarks  would  be  superfluous.  Nor  is  the  evidence 
of  their  complete  fulfihnent  indistinct,  or  difficult  to  be 
found  ;  for  Volney  illustrates  six  predictions  in  a  single 
sentence,  to  which  he  subjoins  a  reflection,  not  less  con- 
firmatory than  the  whole  of  prophetic  inspiration. 

"  /  will  destroy  your  high  places,  and  bring  your  sanc- 
tuaries into  desolation.  The  palaces  shall  be  forsaken. 
I  will  destroy  the  remnant  of  the  sea-coast.  I  will  make 
your  cities  waste.  T/ie  multitude  of  the  city  shall  be  left, 
the  habitation  forsaken,  &c.  The  land  shall  be  utterly 
spoiled.  I  will  make  the  land  more  desolate  than  the 
vnldemess.  "  The  temples  are  thrown  down — the  pa- 
laces demolished — ihe ports  filled  up — the  towns  destroyed 
— and  the  earth,  stripped  of  inhabitants,  seems  a  dreary 
hurying-place. ' '  ^ 

"  Good  God  !"  exclaims  Volney,  "  from  whence  pro- 
ceed such  melancholy  revolutions  ?  For  what  cause  is 
the  fortune  of  these  countries  so  strikingly  changed'^ 
Why  are  so  many  cities  destroyed  ?  Why  is  not  that 
ancient  population  reproduced  and  perpetuated  ?"  "I 
wandered  over  the  country ;  I  traversed  the  provinces ; 
I  enumerated  the  kingdoms  of  Damascus  and  Idumea, 
of  Jerusalem  and  Samaria.  This  Syria,  said  /  to  myself, 
now  almost  depopulated,  then  contained  a  hundred  flou- 
rishing cities,  and  abounded  with  towns,  villages,  and 
hamlets.  What  is  become  of  so  many  productions  of 
the  hands  of  man  ?  What  is  become  of  those  ages  of 
abundance  and  of  life?"  &c.  Seeking  to  be  wise,  men 
become  fools,  when  they  trust  to  their  own  vain  imagi- 
nations, and  will  not  look  to  that  word  of  God,  which 
is  as  able  to  confound  the  wise  as  to  give  understand- 
ing to  the  simple.  These  words,  from  the  lips  of  a  great 
'  Volney's  Ruins,  ch.  xi.  p.  8. 


JUDEA. 


125 


advocate  of  infidelity,  proclaim  the  certainty  of  the  truth 
which  he  was  too  bhnd  or  bigoted  to  see.  For  not 
more  unintentionally  or  unconsciously  do  many  illiterate 
Arab  pastors,  or  herdsmen,  verify  one  prediction,  while 
they  literally  tread  Palestine  underfoot,  than  Volney,  the 
academician,  himself  verifies  another,  while,  speaking 
in  his  own  name,  and  the  spokesman  also  of  others,  he 
thus  confirms  the  unerring  truth  of  God's  holy  word,  by 
what  he  said,  as  well  as  by  describing  what  he  saw. 
"  The  generation  to  come  of  your  children  that  shall  rise 
up  after  you,  and  the  stranger  that  shall  come  from 
A  FAR  LAND,  shall  SAY,  whcn  they  see  the  plagues  of  that 
land,  and  the  sickness  which  tJie  Lord  hath  laid  upon  it, 
Wherefore  hath  the  Lord  done  this  unto  the  land  9  what 
meaneth  the  heat  of  this  great  anger  ? 

It  is  no  "  secret  malediction,"  spoken  of  by  Volney, 
which  God  has  pronounced  against  Judea.  It  is  the 
curse  of  a  broken  covenant  that  rests  upon  the  land — the 
consequences  of  the  iniquities  of  the  people,  not  of  those 
only  who  have  been  plucked  from  off  it,  and  scattered 
throughout  the  world,  but  of  those  also  that  dwell  therein. 
The  ruins  of  empires  originated  not  from  the  regard 
which  mortals  paid  to  revealed  religion,  but  from  causes 
diametrically  the  reverse.  Neither  Jews  nor  Christians 
who  possessed  a  revelation  were  the  desolators ;  under 
them  Judea  flourished.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  of  the  cities  of  Palestine,  was  the  work  of  the  Ro- 
mans, who  were  pagan  idolaters ;  and  the  devastation, 
in  more  recent  ages,  w^as  perpetuated  by  the  Saracens 
and  Turks,  believers  in  the  impostor  Mahomet,  and  the 
desolations  were  wrought  by  the  enemies  of  the  Mosaic 
and  Christian  dispensations.  The  desolations  are  not  of 
divine  appointment,  but  only  as  they  have  followed  the 
violations  of  the  laws  of  God,  or  have  arisen  from 
thence.  The  virtual  renunciation  of  a  holy  faith  brought 
on  destruction.  And  none  other  curses  have  come  upon 
the  land  than  those  that  are  written  in  the  book.  The 
character  and  condition  of  the  people  are  not  less  defi- 
nitely marked  than  the  features  of  the  land  that  has 
11* 


126  JUDEA, 

been  smitten  witli  a  curse  because  of  their  iniquities 
And  when  the  unbeliever  asks,  Wherefore  hath  the  Lora 
done  this  unto  the  land,  the  seune  word  which  foretold 
that  the  question  would  be  put,  supplies  an  answer,  and 
assigns  the  cause.  Then  shall  men  say,  Because  they 
have  forsaken  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  God  of  theii' 
fathers,  &c. 

The  land  is  defied  under  the  inhabitants  thereof  6e- 
came  they  have  transgressed  the  laws,  changed  the  ordi- 
nances, broken  the  everlasting  covenant :  therefare  hath  the 
curse  devoured  the  earth,  &c.  These  expressive  words, 
while  they  declare  the  cause  of  the  judgments  and  deso- 
lations, denote  also  the  great  depravity  of  those  who 
were  to  inhabit  the  land  of  Judea  during  the  time  of  its 
desolation,  and  while  its  ancient  inhabitants  were  to  be 
"scattered  abroad."  And  although  the  ignorance  of 
those  who  dwell  therein  may  be  pitied,  their  degeneracy 
will  not  be  denied.  The  ferocity  of  the  Turks,  the 
predatory  habits  of  the  Arabs,  the  abject  state  of  the 
few  poor  Jews  who  are  suffered  to  dwell  in  the  land  of 
their  fathers,  the  base  superstitions  of  the  different  Chris- 
tian sects, — the  frequent  contentions  that  subsist  among 
such  a  mingled  and  diversified  people,  and  the  gross 
ignorance  and  great  depravity  that  prevail  throughout 
the  whole,  have  all  sadly  changed  and  stained  the  moral 
aspect  of  that  country  which,  from  sacred  remembrances, 
is  denominated  the  Holy  Land, — have  converted  that 
region,  where  alone  in  all  the  world,  and  during  many 
ages,  the  only  living  and  true  God  was  worshipped,  and 
where  alone  the  pattern  of  perfect  virtue  was  ever  ex- 
hibited to  human  view  or  in  the  human  form,  into  one 
of  the  most  degraded  countries  of  the  globe,  and,  in  ap- 
propriate terms,  may  well  be  said  to  have  defied  the  land. 
And  it  has  been  defiled  throughout  many  an  age.  The 
Father  of  mercies  afflicteth  not  willingly,  nor  grieves  the 
children  of  men.  Sin  is  ever  the  precursor  of  the  actual 
judgments  of  Heaven.  It  was  on  account  of  their 
idolatry  and  wickedness  that  the  ten  tribes  were  earliest 
plucked  from  off  the  land  of  Israel.    The  blood  of  Jesus, 


JUDEA.  127 

according  to  their  prayer,  and  the  full  measure  of  their 
iniquity,  according  to  their  doings,  was  upon  the  Jews 
and  upon  their  children.  Before  they  were  extirpated 
from  that  land  which  their  iniquities  had  defiled,  it  was 
drenched  with  the  blood  of  more  than  a  milHon  of  their 
race.  Judea  afterwards  had  a  partial  and  temporary 
respite  from  desolation,  when  Christian  churches  were 
established  there.  But  in  that  land,  the  nursery  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  seeds  of  its  corruption,  or  perversion,  began 
soon  to  appear.  The  moral  power  of  religion  decayed, 
the  worship  of  images  prevailed,  and  the  nominal  disci- 
ples of  a  pure  faith  "  broke  the  everlasting  covenant."* 
The  doctrine  of  Mahomet — the  Koran  or  the  sword — 
was  the  scourge  and  the  cure  of  idolatry ;  but  all  the 
native  impurities  of  the  Mahometan  creed  succeeded  to 
a  grossly  corrupted  form  of  Christianity.  Since  that 
period,  hordes  of  Saracens,  Egyptians,  Fatimites,  Tar- 
tars, Mamelukes,  Turks,  (a  combination  of  names  of  un- 
matched barbarism,  at  least  in  modern  times,)  have,  for 
the  space  of  twelve  hundred  years,  defiled  the  land  of  the 
children  of  Israel  with  iniquity  and  with  blood.  And  in 
very  truth  the  prophecy  savours  not  in  the  least  of  hyper- 
bole,— the  worst  of  the  heathen  shall  possess  their  houses. 
And  the  holy  places  shall  he  defiled.  "  After  the  final 
destruction,"  in  the  words  of  Gibbon,  "of  the  stately 
temple  of  the  Jewish  nation  by  the  arms  of  Titus  and 
Hadrian,  a  ploughshare  was  drawn  over  the  consecrated 
ground,  as  a  sign  of  perpetual  interdiction.  Sion  was 
deserted ;  and  the  vacant  space  of  the  lower  city  was 
filled  with  the  public  and  private  edifices  of  the  ^lian 
colony,  which  spread  themselves  over  the  adjacent  hill 
of  Calvary.  The  holy  places  were  polluted  with  the  monu- 
ments of  idolatry ;  and  either  by  design  or  accident,  a 
chapel  was  dedicated  to  Venus,  on  the  spot  which  had 
been  sanctified  by  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ."** 
Omar,  on  the  first  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Maho- 
metans, erected  a  mosque  on  the  site  of  the  temple  of 
Solomon ;  and,  jealous  as  the  God  of  Israel  is  that  his 
'  Isaiah  xxiv.  5.  2  Gibbon's  Hist.  vol.  iv.  p  100,  c.  23. 


138  JUDEA. 

glory  be  not  given  to  another,  the  unseemly  and  violent 
and  bloody  contentions  among  Christian  sects  around  the 
very  sepulchre  of  the  Author  of  the  faith  which  they  dis- 
honour, bear  not  a  feebler  testimony  in  the  present  day, 
than  the  preceding  fact  bore,  at  so  remote  a  period,  to 
the  truth  of  this  prediction.  The  frenzied  zeal  of  cru- 
sading Christians  could  not  rescue  the  sepulchre  of  Christ 
from  the  heathen  who  defiled  it,  though  Europe  then 
poured  like  a  torrent  upon  Asia.  But  the  defilement  of 
the  land,  no  less  than  that  of  the  holy  places,  is  not  yet 
cleansed  away.  And  Judea  is  still  defiled  to  this  hour, 
not  only  by  oppressive  rulers,  but  by  an  unprincipled 
and  a  lawless  people.  "  The  barbarism  of  Syria,"  says 
Volney,  "  is  complete."*  "  I  have  often  reflected," 
says  Burckhardt,  in  describing  the  dishonest  conduct  of 
a  Greek  priest  in  the  Hauran,  (but  in  words  that  admit 
of  too  general  an  application,)  "  that  if  the  English  pe- 
nal laws  were  suddenly  promulgated  in  this  country, 
there  is  scarcely  any  man  in  business,  or  who  has  money 
dealings  with  others,  who  would  not  be  liable  to  trans- 
portation before  the  end  of  the  first  six  months."**  "  Un- 
der the  name  of  Christianity,  every  degrading  supersti- 
tion and  profane  rite,  equally  remote  from  the  enlightened 
tenets  of  the  gospel  and  the  dignity  of  human  nature, 
are  professed  and  tolerated.  The  pure  gospel  of  Christ, 
everywhere  the  herald  of  civilization  and  of  science,  is 
almost  as  little  known  in  the  Holy  Land  as  in  California 
or  New  Holland.  A  series  of  legendary  traditions,  min- 
gled with  remains  of  Judaism,  and  the  wretched  phan- 
tasies of  illiterate  ascetics,  may  now  and  then  exhibit  a 
glimmering  of  heavenly  light ;  but  if  we  seek  for  the 
effects  of  Christianity  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  we  must 
look  for  that  period,  when  the  desert  shall  blossom  as 
the  rose,  and  the  wilderness  become  a  fruitful  field. "^ 
The  land  is  defiled  under  the  inhabitants  thereof,  because 
they  have  transgressed  the  laws,  changed  the  ordinances, 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  442. 
"  2  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  89. 
3  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  405. 


JUDEA.  12a 

broken  the  everlasting  covenant :  therefore  hath  the  curse 
devoured  the  land,  and 

They  that  dwell  therein  are  desolate.  *'  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Turks  in  Syria  is  a  pure  mihtary  despotism, 
that  is,  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  are  subject  to  the 
caprices  of  a  faction  of  armed  men,  who  dispose  of  every 
thing  according  to  their  interest  and  fancy."  "In  each 
government  the  pasha  is  an  absolute  despot.  In  the 
villages,  the  inhabitants,  limited  to  the  mere  necessaries 
of  life,  have  no  arts  but  those  without  which  they  can- 
not subsist."  "  There  is  no  safety  without  the  towns, 
nor  security  within  their  precincts  ;"^  and 

Few  men  left.  While  their  character  is  thus  depraved 
and  their  condition  miserable,  their  number  is  also  small 
indeed,  as  the  inhabitants  of  so  extensive  and  fertile  a 
region.  After  estimating  the  number  of  inhabitants  in 
Syria,  in  general,  Volney  remarks :  "  So  feeble  a  popu- 
lation in  so  excellent  a  country  may  well  excite  our 
astonishment;  but  this  will  be  increased,  if  we  compare 
the  present  number  of  inhabitants  with  that  of  ancient 
times.  We  are  informed  by  the  philosophical  geo- 
grapher, Strabo,  that  the  territories  of  Yamnia  and  Yop- 
pa,  in  Palestine  alone,  were  formerly  so  populous  as  to 
bring  forty  thousand  armed  men  into  the  field.  At  pre- 
sent they  could  scarcely  furnish  three  thousand.  From 
the  accounts  we  have  of  Judea  in  the  time  of  Titus, 
which  are  to  be  esteemed  tolerably  accurate,  that  coun- 
try must  have  contained  four  millions  of  inhabitants.  If 
we  go  still  further  back  into  antiquity,  we  shall  find  the 
same  populousness  among  the  Philistines,  the  Phoeni- 
cians, and  in  the  kingdoms  of  Samaria  and  Damascus."^ 
Though  the  ancient  population  of  the  land  of  Israel  be 
estimated  at  the  lowest  computation,  and  the  existing 
population  be  rated  at  the  highest,  yet  that  country  does 
not  now  contain  above  a  tenth  part  of  the  number  of  in- 
habitants which  it  plentifully  supported,  exclusively  from 
th**'**  industry  and  from  the  rich  resources  of  its  own 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  370,  376,  380. 
2  Ibid.  p.  366. 


130  JUDEA. 

luxuriant  soil,  for  many  successive  centuries ;  and  how 
could  it  possibly  have  been  imagined  that  this  identical 
land  would  ever  yield  so  scanty  a  subsistence  to  the 
desolate  dwellers  therein,  and  that  there  would  be  so 
few  men  left  ? 

Yet  in  it  shall  he  a  tenth.  The  city  that  went  out  by  a 
thbusand  shall  leave  an  hundred^  'and  that  which  went  out 
by  an  hundred  shall  leave  ten.  The  present  population  of 
Judea  has  been  estimated,  without  reference  to  any  predic- 
tion, at  a  tenth  of  the  number  by  which  it  was  peopled 
previous  to  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews.  Volney,  on  a 
comparative  estimate,  reduces  it  even  to  less.  It  is  im- 
possible to  ascertain  the  precise  proportion.  The  words 
of  Pierre  Bello,  quoted  by  Malte-Brun,  though  the  same 
in  substance  with  the  testimony  of  others,  here  afford  the 
closest  commentary.  "  A  tract  from  which  a  hundred 
individuals  draw  a  scanty  subsistence  formerly  main- 
tained thousands. ^^^ 

The  mirth  of  the  tabret  ceaseth,  the  noise  of  them  that 
rejoice  endeth,  the  joy  of  the  harp  ceaseth.  Instrumental 
music  was  common  among  the  Jews.  The  tabret,  and 
the  harp,  the  cymbal,  the  psaltery,  and  the  viol,  and  other 
instruments  of  music,  are  often  mentioned  as  in  familiar 
use  among  the  Israelites,  and  regularly  formed  a  great  part 
of  the  service  of  the  temple.  At  the  period  when  the 
prediction  was  delivered,  the  harp,  the  viol,  and  the 
tabret,  and  pipe,  and  wine  w^ere  in  their  feasts;  and 
even  though  the  Jews  have  long  ceased  to  be  a  nation, 
the  use  of  these  instruments  has  not  ceased  from  among 
them.  But  in  the  once  happy  land  of  Judea,  the  voice 
of  mirthful  music  is  at  rest.  In  a  general  description  of 
the  state  of  the  arts  and  sciences  in  Syria,  including  the 
whole  of  the  Holy  Land,  Volney  remarks,  that  adepts  in 
music  are  very  rarely  to  be  met  with.  "  They  have  no 
music  but  vocal ;  for  they  neither  know  nor  esteem  iri- 
strumental;  and  they  are  in  the  right,  for  such  instru- 
ments  as  they  have,  not  excepting  their  flutes,   are 

'  Malte-B run's  Geography,  vol.  ii  p.  151. 


JUDEA.  131 

detestable."*  The  mirth  of  the  tahret  ceaseth,  the  joy  of 
the  harp  ceaseth. 

But  this  is  not  the  sole  instance  in  which  the  melan- 
choly features  of  that  desolate  country  seem  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  minds  of  its  inhabitants.  And  the  plaintive 
language  of  the  prophet  (the  significancy  of  which  might 
well  have  admitted  of  some  slight  modification,  if  one 
jot  or  tittle  could  pass  away  till  all  be  fulfilled,)  is  true 
to  the  very  letter,  when  set  side  by  side,  unaided  by  one 
syllable  of  comment,  with  the  words  of  a  bold  and 
avowed  unbeliever. 

All  the  merry-hearted  do  sigh  ;  tJiey  shall  not  drink 
wine  with  a  song ;  all  joy  is  darkened^  the  mirth  of  the 
land  is  gone.  Their  shouting  shall  he  no  shouting. 
"  Their  performance"  (singing)  "  is  accompanied  with 
sighs  and  gestures.  They  may  be  said  to  excel  most 
in  the  melancholy  strain.  To  behold  an  Arab  with  his 
head  inclined,  his  hand  applied  to  his  ear,  his  eyebrows 
knit,  his  eyes  languishing ;  to  hear  his  plaintive  tones, 
his  sighs  and  sobs,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  refrain 
from  tears.  "^  If  any  further  illustration  of  the  predic- 
tion be  requisite,  the  same  ill-fated  narrator  of  facts  ex- 
hibits anew  the  visions  of  the  prophet.  From  his 
description  (chap,  xl.)  of  the  manner  and  character  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Syria,  it  is  obvious  that  melancholy 
is  a  predominating  feature.  "  Instead  of  that  open  and 
cheerful  countenance,  which  we  either  naturally  possess 
or  assume,  their  behaviour  is  serious,  austere,  and  me- 
lancholy. They  rarely  laugh ;  and  the  gaiety  of  the 
French  appears  to  them  a  fit  of  delirium.  When  they 
speak,  it  is  with  deliberation,  without  gesture,  and  with- 
out passion  ;  they  listen  without  interrupting  you  ;  they 
are  silent  for  whole  days  together:  and  by  no  means 
pique  themselves  on  supporting  conversation.  Conti- 
nually seated,  they  pass  whole  days  musing,  with  their 
legs  crossed,  their  pipes  in  their  mouths,  and  almost 
witnout  changing  their  attitude.    The  orientals,  in  gene 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  439. 
Ibid.  pp.  439,  440. 


132  JUDEA. 

ral,  have  a  grave  and  phlegmatic  exterior ;  a  staid  and 
almost  listless  deportment ;  and  a  serious,  nay^  even  sad 
and  melancholy  countenance."*  Having  thus  explicitly 
stated  the  fact,  Volney,  by  many  arguments,  equally  ju- 
dicious and  just,  most  successfully  combats  the  idea  that 
the  climate  and  soil  are  the  radical  cause  of  so  striking 
a  phenomenon ;  and,  after  assigning  a  multiplicity  of 
facts  from  ancient  history  which  completely  disprove  the 
efficacy  of  such  causes,  he  instances  that  of  the  Jews, 
"  who,  limited  to  a  little  state,  never  ceased  to  struggle 
for  a  thousand  years  against  the  most  powerful  empires.^ 
If  the  men  of  these  nations  were  inert,"  he  adds,  "  what 
is  activity  ?  If  they  were  active,  where  then  is  the  in- 
fluence of  climate  ?  Why,  in  the  same  countries  where 
so  much  energy  was  displayed  in  former  times,  do  we 
at  present  find  such  profound  indolence?"  And,  having 
thus  relieved  the  advocate  for  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures  from  the  necessity  of  proving  that  the  contrast 
in  the  manner  and  character  of  the  present  and  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  Syria  is  (even  now,  when  the 
change  is  become  matter  of  history  and  obsen^ation,  and 
when  the  circumstances  respecting  it  are  known)  in- 
capable of  solution  from  any  natural  causes,  such  as  by 
some  conceivable  possibility  might  have  been  foreseen, 
he  proceeds  to  point  out  those  real,  efficacious,  and 
efficient  causes,  viz.,  the  mode  of  government,  and  the 
state  of  religion  and  of  the  laws,  the  nature  of  which  no 
human  sagacity  could  possibly  have  descried,  and  which 
came  not  into  existence  or  operation  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  have  so  long  continued,  for  many  ages  sub- 
sequent to  the  period  when  their  full  and  permanent 
effect  was  laid  open  to  the  full  view  of  the  prophets  of 
Israel.  The  fact,  thus  clearly  predicted  and  proved,  is 
not  only  astonishing  as  referable  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Judea,  and  as  exhibiting  a  contrast,  than  which  nothing, 
of  a  similar  kind,  can  be  more  complete ;  but  it  is  so 
very  contradictory  to  the  habits  of  men  and  the  customs 

'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  461,  476. 
^  Ibid.  p.  464. 


JUDEA.  133 

of  nations,  that  it  is  totally  inexplicable  how,  by  any 
human  means,  such  a  fact,  even  singly,  could  ever  have 
been  foretold.  From  the  congregated  groups  of  savages, 
cheered  by  their  simple  instruments  of  music,  exulting 
in  their  war-songs,  and  revelling  in  their  mirth,  to  the 
more  elegant  assemblages  of  poHshed  society,  listening 
with  delight  to  the  triumphs  of  music ;  from  the  huts  of 
the  wilderness  to  the  courts  of  Asia  and  of  Europe ;  and 
from  the  wilds  of  America,  the  jungles  of  India,  and 
even  the  deserts  of  central  Africa,  to  the  meadows  of 
England,  the  plains  of  France,  or  the  valleys  of  Italy ; 
the  experience  of  mankind  in  every  clime — except  par- 
tially where  the  blasting  influence  of  the  crescent  is 
felt — proclaims,  as  untrue  to  nature,  the  predicted  fact, 
which  actuaHy  has  been  permanently  characteristic  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  once  happy  land  of  Israel.  The 
fact  perhaps  would  have  been  but  slowly  credited,  and 
the  synonymous  terms  of  the  ample  description  and  of 
the  repeated  prophecies  might  have  been  reckoned  the 
fiction  of  a  biassed  judgment,  had  a  Christian,  instead 
of  Volney,  been  the  witness. 

They  shall  not  drink  wine  with  a  song.  Strong  drink 
shall  be  bitter  unto  them  that  drink  it.  The  more 
closely  that  the  author  of  the  Ruins  of  Empires  traces 
the  causes  in  which  the  desolation  of  these  regions,  and 
the  calamities  of  the  inhabitants,  originate,  he  supplies 
more  abundant  data  for  a  demonstration  that  the  prophe- 
cies respecting  them  cannot  but  be  divme.  "  One  of 
the  chief  sources,"  continues  Volney,  "  of  gaiety  with 
us,  is  the  social  intercourse  of  the  table,  and  the  use  of 
wine.  The  orientals  (S3n:ians)  are  almost  strangers  to 
this  double  enjoyment.  Good  cheer  would  infallibly 
expose  them  to  extortion,  and  wine  to  corporeal  punish- 
ment, from  the  zeal  of  the  police  in  enforcing  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  Koran.  It  is  with  great  reluctance  the 
Mahometans  tolerate  the  Christians  the  use  of  a  liquor 
they  envy  them."^  To  this  statement  may  be  subjoined 
the  more  direct,  but  equally  unapplied,  testimony  of 
'  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  480. 
12 


134  JUDEA. 

recent  travellers.  "  The  wines  of  Jerusalem,"  says  Mr 
Joliffe,  V*  are  most  execrable.  In  a  country  where  every 
species  of  vinous  liquor  is  strictly  prohibited  by  the  con 
current  authorities  of  law  and  gospel,  a  single  fountain 
may  be  considered  of  infinitely  greater  value  than  many 
wine-presses,"^  Mr.  Wilson  relates,  that  the  wine 
drunk  in  Jerusalem  is  probably  4he  very  worst  to  be 
met  with  in  any  country.^  While  the  intolerance  and 
despotism  of  the  Turks,  and  the  rapacity  and  wildness 
of  the  Arabs,  have  blighted  the  produce  of  Judea,  and 
render  abortive  all  the  influence  of  climate,  and  all  the 
fertility  of  that  land  of  vines,  the  unnatural  prohibition 
of  the  use  of  wine,  and  the  rigour  with  which  that  pro- 
hibition is  enforced,  have  peculiarly  operated  against 
the  cultivation  of  the  vine,  and  turned  the  treading  of 
the  wine-press  into  an  odious  and  unprofitable  task. 
Yet  in  a  country  where  the  vine  grows  spontaneously, 
and  which  was  celebrated  for  the  excellence  of  its 
wines,^  nothing  less  than  the  operation  of  causes  unna- 
tural and  extreme  as  these,  could  have  verified  the  lan- 
guage of  prophecy.  But  in  this  instance,  as  truly  as  in 
every  otlier,  a  recapitulation  of  the  prophecies  is  the 
best  summary  of  the  facts.  And,  by  only  changing  the 
future  into  the  present  and  the  past,  after  an  interval  of 
two  thousand  five  hundred  years,  no  eye-witness,  writing 
on  the  spot,  could  delineate  a  more  accurate  representa- 
tion of  the  existing  state  of  Judea,  than  in  the  very 
words  of  Isaiah,  in  which,  as  in  those  of  other  prophets, 
the  various  and  desultory  observations  of  travellers  are 
concentrated  into  a  description  equally  perspicuous  and 
true. 

"  Many  days  and  years  shall  ye  be  troubled ;  for  the 
vintage  shall  fail,  the  gathering  shall  not  come.  They 
shall  lament  for  the  teats,  for  the  pleasant  fields,  for  the 
fruitful  vine.  Upon  the  land  of  my  people  shall  come 
up  thorns  and  briers ;  yea,  upon  all  the  houses  of  joy  in 

1  Joliffe's  Letters  from  Palestine,  vol.  i.  p.  184. 

2  Wilson's  Travels,  p.  130. 

3  Relandi  Palaistina,  pp.  381,  79% 


JUDEA.  135 

the  joyous  city :  because  the  palaces  shall  be  forsaken  ; 
the  multitude  of  the  city  shall  be  left;  the  forts  and 
towers  shall  be  for  dens,  a  joy  of  wild  asses,  a  pasture  of 
flocks.*  The  highways  lie  waste;  the  wayfaring  man 
ceaseth.  The  earth  mourneth  and  languisheth ;  Lebanon 
is  ashamed  or  hewn  down,  or  withered  away ;  Sharon  is 
like  a  wilderness ;  and  Bashan  and  Carmel  shake  off 
their  fruits.^  The  land  shall  be  utterly  emptied  and 
utterly  spoiled.  The  earth  mourneth  and  fadeth  away  ; 
■ — it  is  defiled  under  the  inhabitants  thereof,  because  they 
have  transgressed  the  laws.  Therefore  hath  the  curse 
devoured  the  earth,  and  they  that  dwell  therein  are  deso- 
late,— and  few  men  left.  The  vine  languisheth,  all  the 
merry-hearted  do  sigh.  The  mirth  of  tab  rets  ceaseth, 
the  noise  of  them  that  rejoice  endeth,  the  joy  of  the  harp 
ceaseth.  They  shall  not  drink  wine  with  a  song ;  strong 
drink  shall  be  bitter  to  them  that  drink  it.  The  city  of 
confusion  is  broken  down  ; — all  joy  is  darkened ;   the 


mirth  of  the  land  is 


gone. 


5J3 


To  this  picture  of  common  and  general  devastation, 
that  no  distinguishing  feature  might  be  left  untouched  or 
untraced  by  his  pencil,  the  prophet  adds :  "  When  thus 
it  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  the  land,  there  shall  be  as  the 
shaking  of  an  olive  tree,  and  as  the  gleaning-grapes 
when  the  vintage  is  done.'*  The  glory  of  Jacob  shall  be 
made  thin ;  and  it  shall  be  as  when  the  harvestman 
gathereth  the  corn,  and  reapeth  the  ears  with  his  arm : 
yet  gleaning-grapes  shall  be  left  in  it,  as  the  shaking  of 
an  olive  tree,  two  or  three  berries  in  the  top  of  the  up- 
permost bough,  four  or  five  in  the  outmost  fruitful 
branches  thereof."^  These  words  imply,  as  otherwise 
declared  without  a  metaphor,  that  a  small  remnant  would 
be  left ;  that  though  Judea  should  become  poor  like  a 
field  that  has  been  reaped,  or  like  a  vine  stripped  of  its 
fruits,  its  desolation  would  not  be  so  complete  but  that 
some  vestige  of  its  former  abundance  would  be  still  visi- 
ble, like  the  few  grains  that  are  left  by  the  reaper  when 

'  Isa.xxxii.lO,  12—14.  2  jsa.  xxxiii.  8,  9. 

3  Isa.  xxiv.  3 — 11.  4  Isa.  xxiv.  13.  *  Isa.  xvii.4 — 6. 


136  JUDEA. 

the  harvest  is  past,  or  the  little  remaining  fruit  that  hangs 
on  the  uppennost  branch,  or  on  a  neglected  bough,  after 
tlie  full  crop  has  been  gathered,  and  the  vine  and  the 
olive  have  been  shaken.  And  is  there  yet  a  gleaning 
left  of  all  the  glory  of  Israel  ?  There  is  ;  and  there  could 
not  be  any  simile  more  natural  or  more  expressive  of 
the  fact.  Napolose  (the  ancient  Sychar  or  Sichem)  is 
luxuriantly  embosomed  in  the  most  delightful  and  fra- 
grant bowers,  half-concealed  by  rich  gardens  and  by 
stately  trees,  collected  into  groves  all  around  the  beau- 
tiful valley  in  which  it  stands.'  The  garden  of  Geddin, 
situated  on  the  borders  of  Mount  Sharon,  and  protected 
by  its  chief,  extends  several  miles  in  a  spacious  valley, 
abounding  with  excellent  fruits,  such  as  olives,  almonds, 
peaches,  apricots  and  figs.  A  number  of  streams  that 
fall  from  the  mountains,  traverse  it,  and  water  the  cot- 
ton plants  that  thrive  well  in  this  fertile  soil.^  The 
scenery  in  the  plain  of  Zabulon  is,  to  the  full,  as  delight- 
ful as  in  the  rich  vale  upon  the  south  of  the  Crimea ; — it 
reminds  the  traveller  of  the  finest  part  of  Kent  and  Sur- 
rey.^ The  soil,  although  stony,  is  exceedingly  rich,  but 
now  entirely  neglected.  But  the  delightful  vale  of  Za- 
bulon appears  everywhere  covered  wath  spontaneous 
vegetation,  flourishing  in  the  wildest  exuberance.  Even 
along  the  mountains  of  Gilead,  the  land,  possessing  ex- 
traordinary riches,  abounds  with  the  most  beautiful  pros- 
pects, is  clothed  with  rich  forests,  varied  with  verdant 

'  Clarke,  vol.  ii.  p.  506.  The  remark  may  be  interesting  to  the 
Christian  reader,  that, — while  Capernaum,  the  capital  of  Galilee, 
which  was  "  exalted  unto  heaven,"  or  the  highest  prosperity, 
when  Jesus  and  his  apostles  preached  there  in  vain,  is  brought 
down  to  hell,  (to  hades,)  to  death,  or  entire  destruction,  being  no- 
thing now  but  shapeless  ruins,  as  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida  also 
are, — and  while  Samaria,  the  capital  of  the  country  which  bore  its 
name,  is  cast  down  into  the  valley, — Sychar,  then  one  of  its  infe- 
rior cities,  from  which  the  inhabitants  came  forth  to  meet  Jesus, 
and  in  which  many  believed  in  him  as  the  Saviour  when  they 
heard  his  word,  is  ranked  by  every  traveller  who  describes  it> 
among  the  most  striking  exceptions  to  the  general  desolation, 
which  has  otherwise  left  but  a  remembrance  of  the  cities  of  Judah 
of  Samaria,  and  Galilee. 

2  Mariti's  Travel's,  ii.  151.  a  Clarke,  ii.  400. 


SAMARIA.  137 

slopes ;  and  extensive  plains  of  a  fine  red  soil  are  now 
covered  with  thistles,  as  the  best  proof  of  its  fertility/ 
The  valley  of  St.  John's,  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  is 
crowned  to  the  top  with  olives  and  vines,  while  the 
lower  part  of  the  valley  bears  the  milder  fig  and  almond.** 
Whenever  any  spot  is  fixed  upon  as  the  residence,  and 
seized  as  the  property,  either  of  a  Turkish  Aga  or  of  an 
Arab  Sheikh,  it  enjoys  his  protection,  is  made  to  admi- 
nister to  his  wants  or  to  his  luxury,  and  the  exuberance 
and  beauty  of  the  land  of  Canaan  soon  reappear.  But 
such  spots  are,  in  the  words  of  an  eye-witness,  only 
"  mere  sprinklings"  in  the  midst  of  extensive  desolation. 
And  how  could  it  ever  have  been  foreseen,  that  the 
same  cause,  viz.,  the  residence  of  despotic  spoliators, 
was  to  operate  in  so  strange  a  manner,  as  to  spread  a 
wide  wasting  desolation  over  the  face  of  the  country, 
and  to  be,  at  the  same  time,  the  very  means  of  preserv- 
ing the  thin  gleaning  of  its  ancient  glory  ?  or  that  a  few 
berries  on  the  outmost  bough  would  be  saved  by  the 
same  hand  that  was  to  shake  the  olive  ? 

Among  such  a  multipHcity  of  prophecies,  where  the 
prediction  and  the  fulfihnent  of  each  is  a  miracle,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  select  any  as  more  amazing  than 
the  rest.  But  that  concerning  Samaria  is  not  the  least 
remarkable.  The  city  was,  for  a  long  period,  the  capi- 
tal of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  Herod  the  Great  en- 
larged and  adorned  it,  and,  in  honour  of  Augustus 
CcBSar,  gave  it  the  name  of  Sebaste.  There  are  many 
ancient  medals  which  were  struck  there. ^  Its  history  is 
thus  brought  down  to  a  period  unquestionably  far  remote 
from  the  time  of  the  prediction  ;  and  the  narrative  of  a 
traveller,  which  alludes  not  to  the  prophecy,  and  which 
has  even  been  unnoticed  by  commentators,  shows  its 
complete  fulfilment.  Besides  other  passages  which 
speak  of  its  extinction  as  a  city,  the  word  of  the  Lord 
which  Micah  saw  concerning  Samaria,  is — "I  will  make 


'  Buckingham's  Travels,  p.  322. 
^  General  Straton's  MS.  Travels. 


Calmet's  Dictionary;  Relandi  Palaestina,  p.  981, 


138  SAMARIA. 

Samaria  as  a  heap  of  the  field,  and  as  plantings  of  a 
vineyard:  and  I  will  pour  down  the  stones  thereof  into 
the  valley  ;  and  I  will  discover  the  foundations  thereof." 
And  "  this  great  city  is  now  wholly  converted  into  gar- 
dens ;  'and  all  the  tokens  that  remain  to  testify  that  there 
has  ever  been  such  a  place,  are  only,  on  the  north  side, 
a  large  square  piazza  encompassed  with  pillars,  and  on 
the  east  some  poor  remains  of  a  great  church."  Such 
was  the  first  notice  of  that  ancient  capital  given  by 
Maundrell  in  1696,  and  it  is  confirmed  by  Mr.  Bucking- 
ham in  1816 :  "  The  relative  distance,  local  position, 
and  unaltered  name  of  Sebaste,  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the 
identity  of  its  site ;  and,"  he  adds,  "  its  local  features 
are  equally  seen  in  the  threat  of  Micah."^ 

Such  was  the  brief  notice  of  the  ancient  capital  of 
Israel,  contained  in  the  previous  editions  of  this  treatise. 
But  having  visited  the  interesting  spot,  the  author  can- 
not forbear  from  glancing  at  the  prophetic  history  of 
Samaria,  and  pointing  more  minutely  to  its  local  features 
as  they  are  indeed  clearly  seen  in  the  threatenings  of  the 
prophets. 

In  the  origin  of  its  history,  the  hill  of  Samaria  was 
bought  of  Shemer,  by  Omri,  king  of  Israel,  who  built  on 
it  a  city,  which,  after  the  name  of  Shemer,  owner  of  the 
hill,  he  called  Samaria.^  Few  seats  of  royalty  can 
rival  its  princely  site.  In  regard  at  least  to  its  capabili- 
ties for  strength  or  beauty,  separately,  far  more  conjointly, 
it  could  scarcely  be  surpassed.  Its  local  position  is 
most  peculiar.  Of  a  finely  varied  and  oblong  form,  the 
insulated  hill  of  Samaria,  with  a  flattened  summit,  seems 
as  if  it  had  been  raised  by  nature  at  "  the  head  of  the 
fat  valley,"  to  be  at  once  a  stronghold  and  a  royal  seat. 
And  judgment-stricken  as  it  is,  none  can  stand  on  the 

1  Maundrell's  Travels,  p.  78;  Buckingham's  Travels,  pp.511, 
512.  It  has  also  been  described  in  similar  terms  by  other  travel- 
lers. The  stones  are  poured  down  into  the  valley,  the  foundations 
discovered,  and  there  is  now  only  to  be  seen  "  the  hill  where  once 
stood  Samaria."  Napolose  has  been  mistaken  by  one  traveller  for 
^he  ancient  Samaria. 

2  1  Kings  xvi.  34. 


SAMARIA.  139 

uncovered  foundations  of  the  vanished  city,  and  look, 
from  among  its  solitary  columns,  on  the  gleamings  of  its 
ancient  glory  all  around,  without  beholding,  as  it  were, 
in  the  mind's  or  in  the  memory's  eye,  the  once  glorious 
beauty  of  the  city  and  of  the  scene,  ere  ever  the  flower 
that  bloomed  there  in  all  its  gorgeous  beauty  had  faded, 
or  "  the  crown  of  pride"  that  was  seated  there  had  been 
trampled  under  foot.  On  one  side,  beyond  the  narrow 
intervening  plain,  where  native  lovehness  in  wild  luxu- 
riance lingers  still,  the  terraced  hills  which  bound  the 
head  of  the  valley  rise  gently  from  the  plain,  as  if  spread 
forth  to  view  in  all  their  natural  richness,  and  must  once 
have  formed  a  noble  portion  of  the  scene  of  "  glorious 
beauty,"  which  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon  could 
have  but  faintly  imitated.  And  on  the  other,  the  valley, 
varied  in  its  features,  but  unvaried  in  natural  fertility, 
spreads  forth  into  a  wide  expanse,  as  if  unfolding  the 
ancient  glory  of  Israel,  while  as  yet  there  was  no  lean- 
ness there. 

But  Samaria  was  as  noted  for  its  wickedness  as  for  its 
beauty ;  and  therefore  it  is  marked  all  over  with  judg- 
ments. Omri,  the  king  of  Israel,  and  founder  of  Sama- 
ria, wrought  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  ;  and  did 
worse  than  all  that  were  before  him.  But  Ahab,  his 
son,  and  other  successors  in  his  stead,  exceeded  him  in 
iniquity.  Samaria  became  the  seat  of  idolatry  and 
wickedness ;  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  went  forth 
against  it. 

The  head  of  Ephraim  is  Samaria.*  Wo  to  the  croim 
of  pride,  to  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim,  whose  glorious 
beauty  is  as  a  fading  flower,  which  are  on  the  head  of 
the  fat  valleys  of  them  that  are  overcome  with  wine ! 
Behold,  the  Lord  hath  a  mighty  and  strong  arm,  which, 
as  a  tempest  of  hail  and  a  destroying  storm,  as  a  flood 
of  mighty  water  overflowing,  shall  cast  down  to  the 
earth  with  the  hand.  The  crown  of  pride,  the  drunk- 
ards of  Ephraim,  shall  be  trodden  under  feet :  and  the 
glorious  beauty  which  is  on  the  head  of  the  fat  valley 
'  Isa.  vii.  9. 


140  SAMARIA. 

shall  be  a  fading  flower,  and  as  the  hasty  fruit  before  the 
summer ;  which,  when  he  that  looketh  upon  seeth,  while 
it  is  yet  in  his  hand,  he  eateth  it  up.*  I  will  cause  to 
cease  the  kingdom  of  the  house  of  Israel.^  I  will 
hedge  up  thy  way  with  thorns,  and  make  a  wall,  that 
she  shall  not  find  her  paths.^  The  pride  of  Israel  doth 
testify  to  his  face :  therefore  shall  Israel  and  Ephraim 
fall  in  their  iniquity.'*  They  have  deeply  corrupted 
themselves,  therefore  he  will  remember  their  iniquity,  he 
will  visit  their  sins. — As  for  Ephraim,  their  glory  shall 
fly  away  like  a  bird.*  The  inhabitemts  of  Samaria  shall 
mourn  over  it — for  the  glory  thereof,  because  it  is  departed 
from  it.  As  for  Samaria,  her  king  is  cut  off  as  the 
foam  upon  the  water.^  Samaria  shall  become  desolate  : 
for  she  hath  rebelled  against  her  God.^  The  word  of 
the  Lord  which  Micah  saw  concerning  Samaria— What 
is  the  transgression  of  Jacob  ?  is  it  not  Samaria  ? — 
Therefore  I  will  make  Samaria  as  an  heap  of  the  field, 
and  as  plantings  of  a  vineyard.  And  I  will  pour  down 
the  stones  thereof  into  the  valley ;  and  I  will  discover 
the  foundations  thereof.  For  the  statutes  of  Omri  are 
kept,  and  all  the  works  of  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  ye 
walk  in  all  their  counsels,  that  I  should  make  you  a 
desolation.^  Wo  to  them  that  are  at  ease  in  Zion,  and 
trust  in  the  mountain  of  Samaria,  which  are  named 
chief  of  the  nations ;  that  lie  upon  beds  of  ivory,  and 
stretch  themselves  upori»  their  couches ;  that  chant  to 
the  sound  of  the  viol,  and  drink  wine  in  bowls  ;  but  they 
are  not  grieved  for  the  affliction  of  Joseph ;  therefore 
now  shall  they  go  captive  with  the  first  that  go  captive.^ 
The  ten  tribes,  whose  capital  was  Samaria,  were  the 
first  to  go  captive.  The  king  of  Assyria  came  up 
throughout  all  the  land,  and  went  up  to  Samaria  and 
besieged  it  three  years ;  and  he  took  Samaria,  and 
carried  Israel  away  into  Assyria. *°     And  Vie  glory  of 

1  Isa.  xxviii.  1 — 4.  2  Hos.  i.  4.  ^  jjqs.  ii.  6. 

"  Hos.  V.  5.  5  Hos.  ix.  9, 11.  ^  Hos.  x.  5,  7. 

'  Hos.  xiii.  16.  s  Micah  i.  6,  vi.  16.  9  Amos  vi.  I — 7. 
»o  2  Kings  xvii.  5, 6. 


SAMARIA.  141 

Ephraim  flew  away  like  a  bird.  But  the  predicted  doom 
of  the  land  of  Israel,  and  of  the  city  of  Samaria,  was 
not  to  be  taken  away  till  the  captivity  of  Israel  should 
also  cease.  Rebuilt  and  destroyed  anew,  it  has  ever 
met  its  yet  irrevocable  fate.  After  the  expulsion  of  the 
Israelites,  its  new  inhabitants,  brought  by  the  king  of 
Assyria  from  Babylon,  Cuthah,  and  Hamath,  &c.,  were 
called  by  its  name.  But  it  had  yet  to  be  cast  down 
and  to  be  laid  desolate.  And  the  Samaritans,  little 
more  than  a  century  before  the  Christian  era,  having,  by 
inflicting  injuries  on  a  colony  of  Jews,  provoked  the 
wrath  of  Hyrcanus,  the  ethnarch  and  high-priest  of  Judea, 
he  besieged  Samaria,  and  encompassed  it  with  a  ditch 
and  double  wall,  eighty  furlongs  or  ten  miles  in  length. 
His  sons  Antigonus  and  Aristobulus  were  set  over  the 
siege.  Suffering  the  greatest  privations,  and  reduced  to 
extreme  distress,  the  Samaritans  invoked  the  aid  of  An- 
tiochus  Cyzicenes,  who  reigned  at  Damascus  over  Coelo- 
Syria  and  Phoenicia.  Antiochus  was  defeated,  and  all 
his  aid  was  in  vain,  though  he  ravaged  the  land  of  Israel 
and  of  Judea.  Samaria  was  again  invested.  Her  way 
was  hedged  up,  walled  with  a  wall  she  could  not  find  her 
path.  And  the  glorious  beauty  was  as  a  fading  flower, 
and  as  the  hasty  fruit  before  the  summer,  which,  when, 
he  that  looketh  upon  seeth,  while  it  is  yet  in  his  hand  h£ 
eateth  it.  After  a  year's  siege,  it  was  no  sooner  in  the 
hand  of  Hyrcanus,  than  he  destroyed  it.  Having  taken 
Samaria,  he  demolished  it  utterly,  till  he  left  not  any 
vestige  of  a  city.*  Though  rebuilt  by  Gabinius,  pro- 
consul of  Syria,  and  afterwards  enlarged  and  adorned 
by  Herod  the  Great,  neither  consul  nor  king  could  avert 
its  fate.  And  now,  no  city  is  there,  ^'  the  hill  on  which 
stood  Samaria"  is  alone  to  be  seen,  bearing  in  its  "fea- 
tures" the  threatenings  of  the  prophets. 

Behold,  the  Lord  hath  a  mighty  and  strong  arm,  which, 

as  a  destroying  storm,  &c.,  shall  cast  down  to  the  earth 

with  the  Mnd. — Samaria  has  been  cast  down  to  the  earth. 

The  crown  of  pride  has  been  trodden  under  foot.     Not  a 

'  Joseph,  art.  xiii.  c.  x.  2,  3. 


142  SAMARU. 

single  portion  of  a  wall  of  any  ancient  edifice  is  stand- 
ing. There  are  only  the  remains  of  a  comparatively 
modern  convent.  Samaria  is  no  more.  But  even 
there,  where  it  stood  in  its  glory,  it  has  not  been  suffered 
to  lie. 

■  /  mil  make  Samaria  as  an  heap  of  the  field,  and  as  plant- 
ings of  a  vineyard.  Stones  aboiind  in  the  mountainous 
regions  of  Israel ;  and  it  is  evident,  that  in  the  terraced 
vineyards  the  stones  have  been  gathered  out  of  the  level 
spaces,  which  were  occupied  only  by  the  soil,  and  when 
freed  from  them  were  fitted  for  planting.  In  some 
fields  in  the  valleys,  the  stones  have  been  gathered  up, 
and  have  been  cast  into  heaps,  which  thus  form  literally 
"  heaps  of  the  field."  The  author,  on  being  asked, 
while  approaching  Samaria,  what  he  understood  by 
heaps  of  the  field,  unhesitatingly  answered,  as  thus  ex- 
plained, such  heaps  as  had  been  passed  the  preceding 
day.  Samaria,  it  is  recorded,  was  utterly  demolished, 
immediately  after  it  was  taken  by  Aristobulus,  and  must 
then  have  formed  a  great  mass  of  ruins.  From  these  it 
was  raised  again  by  Gabinius  and  by  Herod  the  Great, 
who  enlarged  and  adorned  it,  to  render  it  worthy  of  its 
new  name,  which  he  gave  to  Augustus,  who  had 
given  him  a  kingdom.  But  again  it  has  been  cast 
down,  and  more  lowly  than  before.  It  is  even  reduced 
to  be  as  an  heap  of  the  field.  The  stones  which  yet  lie 
on  its  surface,  bereaved  of  the  glory  that  might  seem 
to  hover  around  a  ruin,  however  defaced,  have  been 
gathered  singly,  and  cast  into  heaps,  as  if  they  were 
heaps  of  a  field,  and  not  the  remains  of  a  capital.  The 
ground  has  been  cleared  of  them  in  various  places,  to 
form  the  gardens  or  patches  of  cultivated  ground  pos- 
sessed by  the  inhabitants  of  the  wretched  village  which 
stands  on  the  extremity  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  city. 
The  stones,  as  if  in  a  field  or  vineyard,  have  manifestly 
been  gathered  up  in  heaps,  to  prepare  the  ground  for 
being  sown  or  planted.  Of  all  the  glory  of  the  royal 
«ity  of  Samaria,  nothing  greater  remains  than  an  heap 
9f  tlie  field.     But  onlv  a  small  portion  of  it  now  rests 


SAMARIA.  143 

where  its  crown  of  pride  rose  high ;  for  it  is  farther 
said, 

/  will  pour  down  the  stones  tliereof  into  the  valley^  &c. 
The  road  which  ascends  the  hill  of  Samaria  is  enclosed 
on  both  sides  by  stones,  so  rudely  piled  up,  that  they 
may  be  said  to  be  heaped  rather  than  to  be  built.  Yet 
all  the  way  they  testify,  that  the  stones  which  once 
formed  Samaria  have  been  cast  down.  They  have  evi- 
dently pertained  to  ancient  buildings,  for  broken  capi- 
tals and.  pedestals,  and  other  fragments  of  columns  and 
of  hewn  stones,  may  be  seen  lying  confusedly  together. 
And  not  there  only,  but  all  along  the  sloping  sides  of  the 
hill,  from  its  summit  to  its  base,  lie  many  stones,  of  va- 
rious forms,  and  fragments  of  columns,  whose  form  or 
massiveness  has  stayed  their  course,  manifestly  showing 
that  they  have  been  cast  down,  and  could  not  of  them- 
selves have  fallen  where  they  lie.  The  progress  of  the 
stones  of  Samaria,  when  cast  down  hy  the  hand,  or 
poured  down  into  the  valley,  may  be  traced  the  whole 
way,  from  the  site  of  the  city  on  the  top  of  the  hill  to 
the  very  bottom  of  the  valley,  where  chiefly  they  abound, 
either  partially  strewed  over  it,  or  gathered  into  heaps 
among  the  trees,  that  the  beasts  of  the  field  may  the 
more  freely  eat. 

And  I  will  discover  the  foundations  tliereof.  Some 
columns  now  stand  alone,  without  princely  buildings,  or 
any  others,  to  adorn,  of  which  the  only  vestige  is  their 
foundations.  These  are  indeed  discovered  and  laid  bare. 
Every  stone,  even  to  the  foundations,  has  been  cast 
down  to  the  earth,  and  has  been  either  thrown  into  a 
heap,  as  of  the  field,  or  poured  down  into  the  valley. 
With  not  the  wreck  of  a  ruin,  or  any  stones  to  cover 
them,  the  foundations  alone  remain.  But  these,  in  re- 
spect chiefly  to  the  principal  buildings,  near  the  now 
monumental  columns,  are  most  distinctly  seen.  They 
lie  in  lines  of  ridges,  slightly  raised  above  the  level  of 
the  ground,  the  foundations  of  the  walls  being  undoubt- 
edly and  most  easily  traced,  though  overgrown  with 
grass ;  while,  in  other  instances,  the  foundations  of  Sa- 


144  SAMARIA. 

maria  are  as  plainly  seen  as  when  they  were  first  laid,  in 
the  long  parallel  lines  of  the  walls  of  the  then  future, 
now  vanished  edifices,  in  which  unholy  men  of  Israel 
kept  the  statutes  of  Omri,  and  broke  the  commandments 
of  their  God ;  chanted  to  the  sound  of  the  viol,  while 
they  would  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  prophets ;  and 
were  at  ease  in  Zion,  while  they  would  not  mourn  for 
the  afflictions  of  Joseph ;  and  trusted  in  the  mountain 
of  Samaria,  while  those  very  judgments  were  sounding 
in  their  ears,  which  that  mountain  itself  has  not  heard 
in  vain. 

In  those  days  of  Baalim,  wherein  Israel  burnt  incense 
to  them,  and  decked  herself  with  jewels,  and  went  after 
her  lovers,  and  forgat  the  Lord,  the  citizens  of  her  adopt- 
ed and  illegitimate  capital,  the  kine  of  Bashan,  that 
dwelt  in  the  mountain  of  Samaria,  oppressed  the  poor, 
and  crushed  the  needy,  and  said  unto  their  masters. 
Bring,  and  let  us  drink.  The  drunkards  of  Ephraim 
erred  through  wine,  and  through  strong  drink  were  out 
of  the  way  ;  they  erred  in  vision,  and  stumbled  in  judg- 
ment, and  wrought  wo  to  Israel.  "  I  will  cause  all  her 
mirth  to  cease,  her  feast-days,  her  new-moons,  and  her 
sabbaths,  and  all  her  solemn  feasts.  I  will  destroy  her 
vines  and  her  fig-trees ;  and  I  will  make  them  a  forest, 
and  the  beasts  of  the  field  shall  eat  them.^''^  And  now, 
while  Samaria  is  desolate^  and  the  days  of  her  iniquity 
have  been  visited  upon  her,  the  beasts  of  the  field  browse 
among  the  trees  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley  and  on  the 
opposite  hills ;  and  on  the  grassy  mounds, — rising  one 
above  another,  that  girt  the  lower  part  of  the  hill  of  Sa- 
maria, and  abound  also  on  those  that  adjoin  it,  retaining 
the  form  of  terraced  vineyards, — the  beasts  of  the  field 
now  pasture  where  the  vines  circled,  as  in  ringlets, 
the  head  of  the  fat  valley  on  which  Samaria  was  the 
crown  of  pride. 

But  Samaria  has  to  assume  an  altered  and  a  smiling 
aspect,  when  she  shall  see  her  native  children  return  to 
her  again.  "  Behold,  I  will  allure  her,  saith  the  Lord, 
'  Hosea  ii.  1 1. 


JERUSALEM.  145 

and  bring  her  into  the  wilderness,  and  speak  comfortably 
unto  her,  and  I  will  give  her  vineyards  from  hence,  and 
the  valley  of  Achor  for  a  door  of  hope  :  she  shall  sing 
there,  as  in  the  day  of  her  youth,  as  in  the  day  when  she 
came  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  I  will  betroth 
thee  unto  me  for  ever — in  righteousness,  and  in  judg- 
ment, and  in  loving-kindness,  and  in  mercies,  and  in 
faithfulness.*  Thou  shalt  yet  plant  vines  upon  the 
mountains  of  Samaria,  O  virgin  of  Israel ;  the  planters 
shall  plant,  and  shall  eat  them  as  common  things.  For 
there  shall  be  a  day  that  the  watchmen  upon  Mount 
Ephraim  shall  cry.  Arise  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  Zion 
unto  the  Lord  our  God."  The  house  of  Jacob  shall  pos- 
sess the  fields  of  Samaria."^  And,  while  the  crown  of 
pride  has  been  trodden  under  foot,  in  that  day  shall  the 
Lord  of  hosts  be  for  a  crown  of  glory,  and  for  a  diadem  of 
beauty,  to  the  residue  of  his  people,'*  the  remnant  of  Israel. 
But  the  predicted  fate  of  Jerusalem  has  been  more 
conspicuously  displayed,  and  more  fully  illustrated,  than 
that  of  the  capital  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  It  formed 
the  theme  of  prophecy  from  the  death-bed  of  Jacob, — 
and  as  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  children  of 
Judah,  the  sceptre  departed  not  from  it  till  the  Messiah 
appeared,  on  the  expiration  of  seventeen  hundred  years 
after  the  death  of  the  Patriarch,  and  till  the  period  of  its 
desolation,  prophesied  of  by  Daniel,  had  arrived.  A 
destiny  diametrically  opposite  to  the  former,  then  awaited 
it,  even  for  a  longer  duration  ;  and  ere  its  greatness  was 
gone,  even  at  the  very  time  when  it  was  crowded  with 
Jews,  from  all  quarters,  resorting  to  the  feast,  and  when 
it  was  inhabited  by  a  numerous  population  dwelling  in 
security  and  peace,  its  doom  was  denounced, — that  it 
was  to  be  trodden  down  of  the  gentiles,  till  the  time  jof 
the  gentiles  should  be  fulfilled.  The  time  of  the  gen- 
tiles is  not  yet  fulfilled,  and  Jerusalem  is  still  trodden 
down  of  the  gentiles.  The  Jews  have  often  attempted  to 
recover  it :  no  distance  of  space  or  of  time  can  separate 

'  Hosea  ii.  14,  15,  19.  2  jgr.  xxxi.  5,  6. 

3  Obad.  19.  4  Isa.  xxviii.  5. 

13 


146  JERUSALEM. 

it  from  their  affections ;  they  perform  their  devotions  witV. 
their  faces  towards  it,  as  if  it  were  the  object  of  their 
worship  as  well  as  of  their  love  ;  and  although  their  de- 
sire to  return  be  so  strong,  fixed,  and  indelible,  that  every 
Jew,  in  every  generation,  counts  himself  an  exile ;  yet 
thiey  have  never  been  able  to  rebuild  their  temple,  nor  to 
recover  Jerusalem  from  the  hands  of  the  gentiles.  But 
greater  power  than  that  of  a  proscribed  and  exiled  race 
has  been  added  to  their  own,  in  attempting  to  frustrate 
the  counsel  that  professed  to  be  of  God.  Julian,  the 
emperor  of  the  Romans,  not  only  permitted  but  invited 
the  Jews  to  rebuild  Jerusalem  and  their  temple ;  and 
promised  to  re-establish  them  in  their  paternal  city.  By 
that  single  act,  more  than  by  all  his  writings,  he  might 
have  destroyed  the  credibility  of  the  gospel,  and  restored 
his  beloved  but  deserted  paganism.  The  zeal  of  the 
Jews  was  equal  to  his  own ;  and  the  work  was  begun 
by  laying  again  the  foundations  of  the  temple.  In  the 
space  of  three  days,  Titus  had  formerly  encompassed  that 
city  with  a  wall  when  it  was  crowded  with  his  enemies ; 
and,  instead  of  being  obstructed,  that  great  work,  when  it 
was  confirmatory  of  an  express  prediction  of  Jesus,  was 
completed  with  an  astonishing  celerity  ; — and  what  could 
hinder  the  emperor  of  Rome  from  building  a  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  when  every  Jew  was  zealous  for  the  work  ? 
Nothing  appeared  against  it  but  a  single  sentence  uttered, 
some  centuries  before,  by  one  who  had  been  crucified. 
If  that  word  had  been  of  man,  would  all  the  power  of 
the  monarch  of  the  world  have  been  thwaited  in  oppos- 
ing it  ?  And  why  did  not  Julian,  with  all  his  inveterate 
enmity  and  laborious  opposition  to  Christianity,  execute  a 
work  so  easy  and  desirable  ?  A  heathen  historian  re- 
lates, that  fearful  balls  of  fire,  bursting  from  the  earth, 
sometimes  burned  the  workmen,  rendered  the  place  in- 
accessible, and  caused  them  to  desist  from  the  under- 
taking.*    The   same   narrative   is   attested    by   others. 

1  "Imperii  sui  memoriara  magnitudine  operum  gestiens  propa- 
gare,  ambitiosum  quondam  apud  Hierosolymam  templum,  quod, 
post  multa  et  interneciva  certamina  obsidente  Vespasiano,  pos- 


JERUSALEM.  147 

Chrysostom,  who  was  a  living  witness,  appealed  to  the 
existing  state  of  the  foundations,  and  to  the  universal 
testimony  which  was  given  of  the  fact.  And  an  eminent 
modern  traveller,  who  visited,  and  who  minutely  exa- 
mined the  spot,  testifies  that  "  there  seems  every  reason  for 
believing,  that  in  the  reticulated  remains  still  visible  on 
the  site  of  the  temple,  is  seen  a  standing  memorial  of 
Julian's  discomfiture."^  While  destitute  of  this  addi- 
tional confirmation  of  its  truth,  the  historical  evidence 
was  too  strong  even  for  the  skepticism  of  Gibbon  alto- 
gether to  gainsay ;  and  brought  him  to  the  acknowledg- 
ment that  such  authority  must  astonish  an  incredulous 
mind.  Even  independently  of  the  miraculous  interposi- 
tion, the  fulfilment  is  the  same.  The  attempt  was  made 
avowedly,  and  it  was  abandoned  without  any  apparent 
cause.  It  was  never  accomplished  ;  and  the  prophecy 
stands  fulfilled.  But  even  if  the  attempt  of  Julian  had 
never  been  made,  the  truth  of  the  prophecy  itself  is  un- 
assailable. The  Jews  have  never  been  reinstated  in  Ju- 
dea.  Jerusalem  has  ever  been  trodden  down  of  the 
gentiles.  The  edict  of  Adrian  was  renewed  by  the  suc- 
cessors of  Julian ;  and  no  Jews  could  approach  unto 
Jerusalem  but  by  bribery  or  by  stealth.  It  was  a  spot 
unlawful  for  them  to  touch.  In  the  crusades,  all  the 
power  of  Europe  was  employed  to  rescue  Jerusalem  from 
the  heathens,  but  equally  in  vain.  It  has  been  trodden 
down  for  nearly  eighteen  centuries  by  its  successive  mas- 

teaque  Tito,  cegre  est  expugnatum,  instaurare  sumptibus  cogitabat 
immodicis;  negotiumque  maturandum  Alypio  dederat  Antiochen- 
si,  qui  olim  Britannias  curaverat  pro  prcefectis.  Cum  itaque  rei 
eidem  instaret  Alypius,  juvaretque  provincise  rector,  metuendi 
globi  flammarum,  prope  fundamenta,  crebris  assuitibus  erumpen- 
tes,  fecere  locum  exustis  aliquoties  operantibus  inaccessum  ;  hoc- 
que  modo,  elemento  destinatius  repellente,  cessavit  inceptum." 
(Ammian.  Marcell.  lib.  xxii.  cap.  i.  §  2,  3.  Grot,  de  Ver.  &c.  Ru- 
fini  Hist,  Eccles.  lib.  i.  c.  xxxvii.  Socrat.  lib.  ii.  c.  xvii.  Theo- 
doret.  lib.  iii.  c.  xvii.  Sozomen.  lib.  v.  c.  xxi.  Cassiodor.  Hist. 
Tripart.  lib.  vi.  c.  xliii.  Nicephor.  Callis.  lib.  x.  c.  xxxii.  Greg 
Nazianz.  in  Julian.  Orat.  ii.  Chrysostom.  de  L.  Bab.  Mart,  et  con- 
tra Judaeos,  iii.  p.  491.  Lind. — Vide  Am.  Mar.  tom.  iii.  p.  2.) 
'  Clarke's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  note  1,  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 


148  JERUSALEM. 

ters ;  by  Romans,  Grecians,  Persians,  Saracens,  Mame- 
lukes, Turks,  Christians ;  and  again  by  the  worst  of 
rulers,  the  Arabs  and  the  Turks.  And  could  any  thing  be 
more  improbable  to  have  happened,  or  more  impossible 
,to  have  been  foreseen  by  man,  than  that  any  people 
shpuld  be  banished  from  their  OAvn  capital  and  country, 
and  remain  expelled  and  expatriated  for  nearly  eighteen 
hundred  years  ?  Did  the  same  fate  ever  befall  any  nation, 
though  no  prophecy  existed  respecting  it  ?  Is  there  any 
doctrine  in  Scripture  so  hard  to  be  believed  as  was  this 
single  fact  at  the  period  of  its  prediction  ?  And  even 
with  the  example  of  the  Jews  before  us,  is  it  likely,  or 
is  it  credible,  or  who  can  foretell,  that  the  present  inha- 
bitants of  any  country  upon  earth  shall  be  banished  into 
all  nations, — retain  their  distinctive  character, — meet 
with  an  unparalleled  fate, — continue  a  people, — without 
a  government  and  without  a  country, — and  remain  for 
an  indefinite  period,  exceeding  seventeen  hundred  years, 
till  the  fulfilment  of  a  prescribed  event  to  be  accom- 
plished after  so  many  generations  ?  Must  not  the  know- 
ledge of  such  truths  be  derived  from  that  Prescience  alone 
which  scans  alike  the  will  and  the  ways  of  mortals,  the 
actions  of  future  nations,  and  the  history  of  the  latest 
generations  ? 

Jerusalem  was  the  city  which  the  Lord  did  choose  to 
place  his  name  there  ;  and  he  loved  the  gates  of  Zion 
more  than  all  the  dwellings  of  Judah.  But  while  the 
land  has  been  defiled,  and  the  people  have  been  scat- 
tered abroad,  and  Jerusalem  has  been  trodden  down  of 
the  gentiles,  Zion  also  has  been  filled  with  judgment ! 
Togefher  with  the  other  holy  places,  it  has  been  defiled. 
The  abomination  of  desolation  was  set  up  in  the  holy 
place.  The  monuments  of  idolatry  occupied  the  place 
of  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord.  And  the  mosque  of  Omar 
was  built  where  the  temple  of  Solomon  had  stood.  "  A 
ploughshare  was  drawn  over  the  consecrated  ground ;" 
and  to  this  day  Zion,  as  was  foretold,  is  ploughed  over  as 
afield,  "  At  the  time  when  I  visited  this  sacred  ground," 
says  Dr.  Richardson,  "  one  part  of  it  supported  a  crop 


JERUSALEM.  149 

of  barley,  another  was  undergoing  tfie  labour  of  the 
plough,  and  the  soil  turned  up  consisted  of  stone  and 
lime  mixed  with  earth,  such  as  is  usually  met  with  in 
the  foundations  of  ruined  cities.  It  is  nearly  a  mile  in 
circumference.  We  have  here  another  remarkable  in- 
stance of  the  special  fulfilment  of  prophecy ;  therefore 
shall  Zion  for  your  sakes  be  ploughed  as  a  feld.^^  Mic. 
iii.  12  ;  Jer.  xxvi.  18.^ 

But  though  a  ploughshare  did  pass  over  the  conse- 
crated ground,  as  a  sign  of  perpetual  interdiction,  Zion 
shall  be  redeemed  with  judgment,  and  they  that  return 
of  her  with  righteousness.  The  Lord  is  jealous  for  Zion : 
and  will  return  unto  it.  There  is  a  coming  year  of  re- 
compenses for  the  controversy  of  Zion.  Thou,  O  Lord, 
shalt  arise  and  have  mercy  upon  Zion  :  for  the  time  to 
favour  her,  yea,  the  set  time,  is  come.  For  thy  servants 
take  pleasure  in>her  stones,  and  favour  the  dust  thereof. 
So  the  heathen  shall  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  all 
the  kings  of  the  earth  thy  glory.  When  the  Lord  shall 
build  up  Zion,  he  shall  appear  in  his  glory.  He  will 
regard  the  prayer  of  the  destitute,  and  not  despise  their 
prayer.  This  shall  he  written  for  the  generation  to  come; 
and  the  people  which  shall  be  created  shall  praise  the 
Lord."  Ps.  cii.  13,  &c.  The  place  of  the  sanctuary  of 
the  Lord  shall  yet  be  beautified.  Jerusalem,  not  Rome, 
shall  be  the  eternal  city.  For  thus  it  is  written,  "  The 
sons  of  them  that  afflicted  thee  shall  come  bending  unto 
thee  ;  and  all  they  that  despised  thee  shall  bow  them- 
selves down  at  the  soles  of  thy  feet ;  and  they  shall  call 
thee  the  city  of  the  Lord,  the  Zion  of  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel.  Whereas  thou  hast  been  forsaken  and  hated,  so 
that  no  man  went  through  thee  ;  I  will  make  thee  an 
eternal  excellency,  a  joy  of  many  generations.  I,  the 
Lord,  will  hasten  it  in  his  time."    Isa.  Ix.  14,  &c. 

But  the  prophecies  are  not  confined  to  the  land  of 

Judea ;  they  are  equally  unlimited  in  their  range  over 

space  as  over  time.     After  a  lapse  of  many  ages,  the 

countries  around  Judea  are  now  beginning  to  be  known. 

'  Richardson's  Travels,  p.  .349. 

13* 


150  AMMON. 

And  each  succeeding  traveller,  in  the  communication 
of  new  discoveries  concerning  them,  is  gradually  unfold- 
ing the  very  description  which  the  prophets  gave  of  their 
poverty  and  desolation,  at  the  time  of  their  great  pros- 
perity and  luxuriance.  The  countries  of  the  Ammonites, 
of  the  Moabites,  of  the  Edomites,  or  inhabitants  of  Idu- 
mea,  and  of  the  Philistines,  all  bordered  with  Judea,  and 
each  is  the  theme  of  prophecy.  The  relative  positions 
of  them  all  are  distinctly  defined  in  Scripture,  and  have 
been  clearly  ascertained.*  And  the  territories  of  the  an- 
cient enemies  of  the  Jews,  long  overrun  by  the  enemies 
of  Christianity,  present  many  a  proof  of  the  inspiration 
of  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  and  of  the  truth  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 


AMMON. 

The  country  anciently  peopled  by  the  Ammonites,  is 
situated  to  the  east  of  Palestine,  and  is  now  possessed 
partly  by  the  Arabs  and  by  the  Turks.  It  is  naturally 
one  of  the  most  fertile  provinces  of  Syria,  and  it  was  for 
many  ages  one  of  the  most  populous.  The  Ammonites 
often  invaded  the  land  of  Israel:  and  at  one  period, 
united  with  the  Moabites,  they  retained  possession  of  a 
great  part  of  it,  and  grievously  oppressed  the  Israelites 
for  the  space  of  eighteen  years.  Jephthah  repulsed 
them,  and  took  twenty  of  their  cities ;  but  they  continued 
afterwards  to  harass  the  borders  of  Israel,  and  their  capi- 
tal was  besieged  by  the  forces  of  David,  and  their 
country  rendered  tributary.  They  regained  and  long 
maintained  their  independence,  till  Jotham,  the  king  of 
Judah,  subdued  them,  and  exacted  from  them  an  annual 
tribute  of  a  hundred  talents,  and  thirty  thousand  quarters 

'  Relandi  Palaestina  Illustrata;  D'Anville's  Map;  Maps  in 
Volney's,  Burckhardt's,  and  Buckingham's  Travels ;  Wells' 
Scripture  Geography ;  Gibbon's  History ;  Shaw's  Travels,  &c. 


AMMON.  151 

of  wheat  and  barley  ;  yet  they  soon  contested  again  with 
their  ancient  enemies,  and  exulted  in  the  miseries  that 
befell  them,  when  Nebuchadnezzar  took  Jerusalem,  and 
carried  its  inhabitants  into  captivity.  In  after  times, 
though  successively  oppressed  by  the  Chaldeans,  (when 
some  of  the  earliest  prophecies  respecting  it  were  ful- 
filled,) and  by  the  Egyptians  and  Syrians,  Ammon  was 
a  highly  productive  and  populous  country,  when  the 
Romans  became  masters  of  all  the  provinces  of  Syria ; 
and  several  of  the  ten  allied  cities,  which  gave  name  to 
the  celebrated  Decapolis,  were  included  within  its  boun- 
daries. Even  when  first  invaded  by  the  Saracens,  (a.  d. 
632,)  "  this  country  (including  Moab)  w^as  enriched  by 
the  various  benefits  of  trade ;  by  the  vigilance  of  the 
emperors  it  was  covered  with  a  line  of  forts,  and  the 
populous  cities  of  Gerasa,  Philadelphia,  (Ammon,)  and 
Bosra,  were  secure,  at  least  from  a  surprise,  by  the  solid 
structure  of  their  walls.  Twelve  thousand  horse  could 
sally  from  the  gates  of  Bosra,"  &c.^  Volney  bears  wit- 
ness, "  that  in  the  immense  plains  of  the  Hauran,  ruins 
are  continually  to  be  met  with,  and  that  what  is  said  of 
its  actual  fertility  perfectly  corresponds  with  the  idea 
given  of  it  in  the  Hebrew  writings."^  The  fact  of  its 
natural  fertility  is  corroborated  by  every  traveller  who 
has  visited  it.  And  "  it  is  evident,"  says  Burckhardt, 
"  that  the  whole  country  must  have  been  extremely  well 
cultivated,  in  order  to  have  afforded  subsistence  to  the 
inhabitants  of  so  many  towns,"^  as  are  now  visible  only 

1  Gibbon's  Hist.  vol.  ix.  c.  51,  p.  383. 

2  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  299. 

3  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  357. 

Having  frequent  occasion,  in  the  subsequent  pages,  to  refer  to 
the  authority  of  the  celebrated  and  lamented  traveller,  J.  Lewis 
Burckhardt,  the  following  ample  testimonies  to  his  talents,  perse- 
verance, and  veracity,  will  show  with  what  perfect  confidence  his 
statements  may  be  relied  on,  especially  as  the  subject  of  the  ful- 
filment of  prophecy,  being  never  once  alluded  to  in  all  his  writ- 
ings, seems  to  have  been  wholly  foreign  to  his  view,  as  well  as 
to  theirs  who,  without  partiality,  have  thus  appreciated  his  la- 
bours.   "  He  was  a  traveller  of  no  ordinary  description,  a  gen 


152  AMMON. 

in  their  ruins.  While  the  fruitfulness  of  the  land  of  Am 
mon,  and  the  high  degree  of  prosperity  and  power  in 
which  it  subsisted,  long  prior  and  long  subsequent  to  the 
date  of  the  predictions,  are  thus  indisputably  established 
by  historical  evidence,  and  by  existing  proofs,  the  re- 
searches of  recent  travellers  (who  were  actuated  by  the 
meYe  desire  of  exploring  these  "regions,  and  obtaining 
geographical  information)  have  made  known  its  present 
aspect ;  and  testimony  the  most  clear,  unexceptionable, 
and  conclusive,  has  been  borne  to  the  state  of  dire  deso- 
lation to  which  it  is  and  has  long  been  reduced. 

It  was  prophesied  concerning  Ammon,  "  Son  of  man, 
set  thy  face  against  the  Ammonites,  and  prophesy  against 
them.  I  will  make  Rabbah  of  the  Ammonites  a  stable 
for  camels,  and  a  couching-place  for  flocks.  Behold,  I 
will  stretch  out  mine  hand  upon  thee,  and  will  dehver 
thee  for  a  spoil  to  the  heathen ;  and  I  will  cut  thee  off 
from  the  people,  and  I  will  cause  thee  to  perish  out  of 
the  countries;  I  will  destroy  thee..  The  Ammonites 
shall  not  be  remembered  among  the  nations.     Rabbah 


tleman  by  birth,  and  a  scholar  by  'education ;  he  added  to  the 
ordinary  acquirements  of  a  traveller,  accomplishments  which  fit- 
ted him  for  any  society.  His  description  of  the  countries  through 
which  he  passed,  his  narrative  of  incidents,  his  transactions  with 
the  natives,  are  all  placed  before  us  with  equal  clearness  and 
simplicity.  In  every  page  they  will  find  that  ardour  of  research, 
that  patience  of  investigation,  that  passionate  pursuit  after  truth, 
for  which  he  was  eminently  distinguished."  (Quarterly  Review, 
vol.  xxii.  p.  437.)  "  He  appears  from  his  books  and  letters,  to 
have  been  a  modest,  laborious,  learned,  and  sensible  man,  exempt 
from  prejudice,  unattached  to  systems ;  detailing  what  he  saw  plainly 
and  correctly,  and  of  very  prudent  and  discreet  conduct."  (Edin- 
burgh Review,  number  Ixvii.  p.  109.)  The  following  extract 
from  General  Straton's  manuscript  Travels  was  written  at  Cairo, 
and  is  the  more  valuable,  as  containing  the  result  of  personal 
knowledge  and  observation  :  "  Burckhardt  speaks  Arabic  per- 
fectly, has  adopted  the  costume,  and  goes  to  the  religious  places 
of  worship  ;  has  been  at  Mecca ;  in  short,  follows  in  every  thing 
the  Turkish  manners  and  customs,  and  he  is  not  to  be  distinguish- 
ed from  a  Mussulman.  With  what  advantage  must  he  travel ! 
He  is  by  birth  a  Swiss,  but  having  been  educated  in  England, 
speaks  our  language  perfectly." 


AMMON.  153 

(the  chief  city), of  the  Ammonites  shall  be  a  desolate 
heap.     Amraon  shall  be  a  perpetual  desolation."^ 

^mmon  was  to  be  delivered  to  be  a  spoil  to  the  heathen^ 
to  be  destroyed  J  and  to  be  a  perpetual  desolation.  "  All 
this  country,  formerly  so  populous  and  flourishing,  is 
now  changed  into  a  vast  desert."^  Ruins  are  seen  in 
every  direction.  The  country  is  divided  between  the 
Turks  and  the  Arabs,  but  chiefly  possessed  by  the  latter. 
The  extortions  of  the  one,  and  the  depredations  of  the 
other,  keep  it  in  perpetual  desolation,  and  make  it  a  spoil 
to  the  heathen.  "  The  far  greater  part  of  the  country  is 
uninhabited,  being  abandoned  to  the  wandering  Arabs, 
and  the  towns  and  villages  are  in  a  state  of  total  ruin."* 
"  At  every  step  are  to  be  found  the  vestiges  of  ancient 
cities,  the  remains  of  many  temples,  public  edifices,  and 
Greek  churches."-'  The  cities  are  desolate.  "Many 
of  the  ruins  present  no  objects  of  any  interest.  They 
consist  of  a  few  walls  of  dwelling-houses,  heaps  of 
stones,  the  foundations  of  some  public  edifices,  and  a 
few  cisterns  filled  up  ;  there  is  nothing  entire,  but  it  ap- 
pears that  the  mode  of  building  was  very  solid,  all  the 
remains  being  formed  of  large  stones. — In  the  vicinity 
of  Ammon  there  is  a  fertile  plain  interspersed  with 
low  hills,  which  for  the  greater  part  are  covered  with 
ruins.  "^ 

While  the  country  is  thus  despoiled  and  desolate, 
there  are  valleys  and  tracts  throughout  it,  which  "  are 
covered  with  a  fine  coat  of  verdant  pasture,  and  are 
places  of  resort  to  the  Bedouins,  where  they  pasture 
their  camels  and  their  sheep. "^  "  The  whole  way  we 
traversed,"  says  Seetzen,  "  we  saw  villages  in  ruins, 
and  met  numbers  of  Arabs  with  their  camels,"  &c.  Mr. 
Buckingham  describes  a  building  among  the  ruins  of 
Ammon,  "  the  masonry  of  which  was  evidently  con- 

'  Ezek.  XXV.  2,  5,  7,  10,  xxi.  32 ;  Jer.  xlix.  2 ;  Zeph.  ii.  9. 

2  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  34.  ^  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  37 

4  Burckhardl's  Travels  in  Nubia,  Introd.  pp.  37,  38,  44. 

*  Burckhardl's  Travels  in  Syria,  pp.  355,  357,  364. 

6  Buckingham's  Travels  in  Palestine,  &c.,  p.  329.  , 


154  AMMON. 

structed  of  materials  gathered  from  the  ruins  of  other 
and  older  buildings  on  the  spot.  On  entering  it  at  the 
south  end,"  he  adds,  "  we  came  to  an  open  square 
court,  with  arched  recesses  on  each  side,  the  sides  nearly 
facing  the  cardinal  points.  The  recesses  in  the  northern 
and  southern  wall  were  originally  open  passages,  and 
had  arched  doorways  facing  each'Other ;  but  the  first  of 
these  was  found  wholly  closed  up,  and  the  last  was  par- 
tially filled  up,  leaving  only  a  narrow  passage,  just  suf- 
ficient for  the  entrance  of  one  man,  and  of  the  goats, 
which  the  Arab  keepers  drive  in  here  occasionally  for 
shelter  during  the  night."  He  relates  that  he  lay  down 
among  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  close  beside  the  ruins 
of  Ammon ;  and  particularly  remarks  that,  during  the 
night,  he  was  almost  entirely  prevented  from  sleeping 
by  the  bleating  of  flocks.*  So  literally  true  is  it,  al- 
though Seetzen,  and  Burckhardt,  and  Buckingham,  who 
relate  the  facts,  make  no  reference  or  allusion  whatever 
to  any  of  the  prophecies,  and  travelled  for  a  different 
object  than  the  elucidation  of  the  Scriptures,  that  the 
chief  city  of  the  Ammonites  is  a  stable  for  camels^  and  a 
couching  place  for  flocks. 

The  Ammonites  shall  not  he  remembered  among  the 
nations.  While  the  Jews,  who  were  long  their  heredi- 
tary enemies,  continue  as  distinct  a  people  as  ever, 
though  dispersed  among  all  nations,  no  trace  of  the  Am- 
monites remains,  none  are  now  designated  by  their 
name,  nor  do  any  claim  descent  from  them.  They  did 
exist,  however,  long  after  the  time  when  the  eventful 
annihilation  of  their  race  was  foretold,  for  they  retained 
their  name,  and  continued  a  great  multitude  until  the 
second  century  of  the  Christian  era.^  Yet  they  are  cut 
off  from  the  people.  Ammon  has  perished  out  of  the 
countries ;  it  is  destroyed.  No  people  is  attached  to  its 
soil ;  none  regard  it  as  their  country  and  adopt  its  name ; 

'  Buckingham's  Travels  among  the  Arab  Tribes,  under  the 
title  of  Ruins  of  Ammon,  pp.  72,  73,  &c. 
2  Justin  Martyr,  p.  392,  edit.  Thirl. 


AMMON.  155 

and  the  Ammonites  are  not  rem£mbered  among  the  na- 
tions. 

Rabbah  (Rabbah  Ammon,  the  chief  city  of  Ammon) 
shall  be  a  desolate  heap.  Situated  as  it  was,  on  each 
side  of  the  borders  of  a  plentiful  stream,  encircled  by  a 
fruitful  region,  strong  by  nature  and  fortified  by  art, 
nothing  could  have  justified  the  suspicion,  or  warranted 
the  conjecture  in  the  mind  of  an  uninspired  mortal,  that  the 
royal  city  of  Ammon,  whatever  disasters  might  possibly 
befall  it  in  the  fate  of  war  or  change  of  masters,  would  ever 
undergo  so  total  a  transmutation  as  to  become  a  desolate 
heap.  But  although,  in  addition  to  such  tokens  of  its 
continuance  as  a  city,  more  than  a  thousand  years  had 
given  uninterrupted  experience  of  its  stability,  ere  the 
prophets  of  Israel  denounced  its  fate ;  yet  a  period  of 
equal  length  has  now  marked  it  out,  as  it  exists  to  this 
day,  a  desolate  heap,  a  perpetual  or  permanent  desola- 
tion. Its  ancient  name  is  still  preserved  by  the  Arabs ; 
and  its  site  is  now  "  covered  with  the  ruins  of  private 
buildings,  nothing  of  them  remaining  except  the  founda- 
tions and  some  of  the  door-posts.  The  buildings  ex- 
posed to  the  atmosphere  are  all  in  decay,"*  so  that  they 
may  be  said  literally  to  form  a  desolate  heap.  The  pub- 
lic edifices,  which  once  strengthened  or  adorned  the 
city,  after  a  long  resistance  to  decay,  are  now  also  deso- 
late ;  and  the  remains  of  the  most  entire  among  them, 
subjected  as  they  are  to  the  abuse  and  spoliation  of  the 
wild  Arabs,  can  be  adapted  to  no  better  object  than 
a  stable  for  camels.  Yet  these  broken  walls  and  ruined 
palaces,  which  attest  the  ancient  splendour  of  Ammon, 
can  now,  by  means  of  a  single  act  of  reflection,  or 
simple  process  of  reasoning,  be  made  subservient  to  a  far 
nobler  purpose  than  the  most  magnificent  edifices  on 
earth  can  be,  when  they  are  contemplated  as  monuments 
on  which  the  historic  and  prophetic  truth  of  Scripture  is 
blended  in  one  bright  inscription.  A  minute  detail  of 
them  may  not  therefore  be  uninteresting. 

Seetzen,  whose  indefatigable  ardour  led  him,  in  defi- 
'  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  359,  360. 


156  AMMON. 

ance  of  danger,  the  first  to  explore  the  countries  which 
lie  east  of  the  Jordjin,  and  east  and  south  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  or  the  territories  of  Ammon,  Moab,  and  Edom. 
justly  characterizes  Ainmon  as  "  once  the  residence  of 
many  kings, — an  ancient  town,  which  flourished  long 
before  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  even  before  the 
Hebrews;''*  and  he  chiefly  enumerates  those  remains 
of  ancient  greatness  and  splendour  which  are  most 
distinguishable  amidst  its  ruins.  "  Although  this  town 
has  been  destroyed  and  deserted  for  many  ages,  I  still 
found  there  some  remarkable  ruins,  which  attest  its 
ancient  splendour.  Such  as,  1st,  A  square  building, 
very  highly  ornamented,  which  has  been  perhaps  a 
mausoleum.  2dly,  The  ruins  of  a  large  palace.  3dly, 
A  magnificent  amphitheatre  of  immense  size,  and  well 
preserved,  with  a  peristyle  of  Corinthian  pillars  without 
pedestals.  4th,  A  temple  with  a  great  number  of  co- 
lumns. 5th,  The  ruins  of  a  large  church,  perhaps  the 
see  of  a  bishop  in  the  time  of  the  Greek  emperors.  6th, 
The  remains  of  a  temple  with  columns  set  in  a  circular 
form,  and  which  are  of  an  extraordinary  size.  7th,  The 
remains  of  the  ancient  wall,, with  many  other  edifices."^ 
Burckhardt,  who  afterwards  visited  the  spot,  describes 
it  with  greater  minuteness.  He  gives  a  plan  of  the 
ruins  ;  and  particularly  noted  the  ruins  of  many  temples, 
of  a  spacious  church,  a  curved  wall,  a  high  arched 
bridge,  the  banks  and  bed  of  the  river  still  partially 
paved ;  a  large  theatre,  with  successive  tiers  of  apart- 
ments excavated  in  the  rocky  side  of  a  hill ;  Corinthian 
columns,  fifteen  feet  high ;  the  castle,  a  very  extensive 
building,  the  walls  of  which  are  thick,  and  denote  a 
remote  antiquity ;  many  cisterns  and  vaults ;  and  a  plain 
covered  with  the  decayed  ruins  of  private  buildings  f — 
monuments  of  ancient  splendour  standing  amidst  a  deso- 
late heap. 

'  A  brief  account  of  the  countries  adjoining  the  Lake  of  Tibe- 
rias, the  Jordan,  and  the  Dead  Sea,  by  M.  Seetzen,  Conseiller 
d'Ambassade  de  S.  M.  I'Empereur  de  Russe,  p.  35,  36. 

2  Seetzen's  Travels,  pp.  35,  36. 

^  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  3.58,  &c. 


AMMON.  157 

More  recent  travellers,  with  this  treatise  in  their  hands, 
or  with  the  full  knowledge  of  these  prophecies,  have 
visited  Ammon  ;  and  the  testimony  to  the  predicted 
facts,  first  unconsciously  given,  has  been  repeated  and 
corroborated  by  those  who  have  personally  testified,  as 
they  consciously  witnessed,  the  fulfilment  of  the  pro- 
phecies. 

"  The  wonderful  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies,"  Lord 
Claud  Hamilton  observes,  *^  is  an  interesting  subject  of 
observation  in  this  country."  "  The  Ammonites  shall 
not  be  remembered  among  the  nations.  Rabbah  of  the 
Ammonites  shall  be  a  desolate  heap.  Ammon  shall  be 
a  perpetual  desolation.  I  will  make  Rabbah  of  the  Am- 
monites a  stable  for  camels,  and  a  couching  place  for 
flocks."  And  while  he  was  traversing  the  ruins  of  the 
city,  the  number  of  goats  and  sheep  which  were  driven 
in  among  them  was  annoying,  however  remarkable  in 
fulfilling  the  prophecies. 

"  The  dreariness  of  its  (Ammon's)  present  aspect," 
says  Lord  Lindsay,  "  is  quite  indescribable ;  it  looks 
like  the  abode  of  death ;  the  valley  stinks  with  dead 
camels,  one  of  which  was  rolling  in  the  stream ;  and 
though  we  saw  none  among  the  ruins,  they  were  abso- 
lutely covered  in  every  direction  with  their  dung.  That 
morning's  ride  would  have  convinced  a  skeptic.  How 
runs  the  prophecy  ?  '  I  will  make  Rabbah  a  stable  for 
camels,'  "  &c.*  "  Ammon  is  now  quite  deserted,  ex- 
cept by  the  Bedouins,  who  water  their  flocks  at  its  little 
river,  &c.  W'e  met  sheep  and  goats  by  thousands,  and 
camels  by  hundreds,  coming  down  to  drink,  all  in  beau- 
tiful condition."^ 

The  "  royal  city"  of  the  Ammonites  withstood  a  hard- 
pressed  siege,  in  the  days  of  David,  king  of  Israel,  who 
himself  fought  against  it,  and  finally  took  it.  And  under 
the  name  of  Philadelphia,  after  an  interval  of  upwards 
of  sixteen  hundred  years,  it  was  a  strong  and  populous 
city  w^hen  the  Saracens  invaded  the  eastern  empire. 

Its  Acropolis,  long  its  chief  stronghold,  is  still  con- 

•  Lord  Lindsay's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  75.    2  j^i^,  yoi.  ii.  p.  117. 
14 


158  AMMON. 

spicuous  among  its  ruins.  It  stands,  as  described  by 
Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  "on  an  isolated  hill  to  the  north 
of  the  town.  Its  walls  are  high,  very  well  built,  and  in 
many  parts  in  good  preservation ;  but  within,  the  ruins, 
rubbish,  and  herbage,  have  grown  nearly  to  their  level 
Thp  chief  of  these  ruins  are  those  of  a  temple,  which 
was  once  adorned  with  a  portico  'and  peristyle  of  grand 
Corinthian  columns,  all  now  prostrate  ;  but  their  massive 
remains,  immense  capitals,  and  large  pediments,  attest 
their  former  magnificence.  Of  one  of  the  most  perfect 
of  these,  the  shaft  alone,  without  pediment  or  capital,  is 
thirty-three  feet  in  length,  and  four  feet  and  a  half  in 
diameter."  But  the  Acropolis,  no  less  than  the  city, 
presents  its  illustrations  of  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
"  There  is  a  small  stone  building  quite  entire,  now  used 
as  a  shelter  for  flocks,  of  which  there  are  many.  And 
without  the  walls,  as  otherwise  within  them,  nothing  re- 
mains but  scattered  materials  of  former  habitations,  now 
partially  concealed  by  the  flowers  and  grass. 

"  Leaving  the  Acropolis,  we  descended,  and,  cross- 
ing the  stream,  on  the  northern  bank  of  which,  among 
other  remains,  are  those  of  an  Ionic  colonnade,  we  pro- 
ceeded to  the  farthest  ruins.  The  most  remote  of  these 
is  a  small  theatre,  evidently  intended  for  scenic  repre- 
sentations, as  the  space  behind  the  proscenium  was  en- 
closed, and  formed  part  of  the  building.  Three  pas- 
sages remained  as  perfect  as  when  they  were  formed, 
and  they  opened  upon  the  stage  by  three  arches.  There 
were  likewise  side  entrances,  and  communicating  pas- 
sages well  adapted  for  theatrical  purposes.  The  prosce- 
nium was  very  handsomely  ornamented  ;  above  the  three 
arches  ran  a  rich  frieze  of  Corinthian  decorations  most 
beautifully  carved,  and  perfectly  uninjured ;  above  were 
three  niches  for  statues ;  the  seats  were  on  both  sides 
perfect,  but  the  centre  forming  the  stage  has  been  thrown 
down.  There  were  three  entrances  by  handsome  arches, 
which  brought  the  spectators  to  a  broad  landing-place, 
halfway  up  the  rows  of  seats,  and  two  smaller  arches, 
which  probably  served  for  entrances   to  the  seats  of 


AMMON.  159 

honour,  which  here,  as  at  Pompeii,  were  close  to  the 
stage.  The  theatre  is  remarkably  well  built,  and  is 
composed  of  very  handsome  stone  ;  from  without  there 
are  three  entrances  to  the  scenes,  and  four  niches  for 
statues,  two  between  the  doors,  and  two  flanking  them. 

"  The  great  theatre,  near  the  other,  is  a  grand  edifice : 
it  is  scooped  out  of  the  side  of  the  hill,  being  partly 
composed  of  the  living  rock,  but  chiefly  of  masonry. 
This  theatre  must  have  been  intended  for  games  and 
other  exercises  in  open  air,  as,  instead  of  the  enclosed 
passages  and  covered  chambers  behind  the  stage,  there 
is  only  an  open  colonnade  of  handsome  Corinthian 
columns,  which  extend  from  one  extreme  to  the  other 
of  the  rows  of  seats.  Within  the  colonnade  is  an  exten- 
sive arena,  of  a  horse-shoe  form,  128  feet  from  seat  to  seat. 
Forty-three  rows  of  seats  extend  to  a  great  height,  and 
are  separated  into  three  tiers  by  broad  landing-places : 
seven  radii  of  smaller  steps  admitted  the  spectators  to 
their  several  seats,  and  each  tier  has  several  recesses. 
The  second  tier  has  doors  communicating  to  a  high 
arched  passage,  which  runs  round  the  theatre,  and  opens 
upon  a  side  staircase,  by  which  means  the  crowd  could 
be  divided  ;  back  staircases  also  mount  from  these  pas- 
sages to  the  upper  tier,  so  as  to  enable  the  more  humble 
spectators  to  gain  and  leave  their  seats  without  incom- 
moding their  richer  neighbours  below.  In  the  centre 
of  the  uppermost  bench  is  excavated  a  square  chamber, 
with  a  beautifully  carved  cornice,  having  an  elegant 
niche  of  the  shell  pattern  on  each  side.  There  is,  as 
usual  in  all  ancient  theatres,  an  arch  entering  upon  the 
arena  on  each  side  where  the  seats  terminate,  reaching 
the  proscenium. 

"  Of  the  other  principal  ruins  a  more  slight  notice 
may  be  given.  A  grand  building,  once  apparently  of 
an  octagonal  form,  has  still  four  of  its  sides  T)eifect, 
which  contain  a  grand  alcove,  and  threp  lesser  recesses. 
A  colonnade  of  large  Corinthian  pillars  was  once  ranged 
within  it,  but  what  purpose  it  served,  there  are  no 
means  of  ascertaining.     Heaps  of  ruins  lie  around  it  in 


160  AMMON. 

bewildering  confusion.  Near  to  it  are  large  houses, 
divided  into  many  apartments,  and  a  more  modern 
church  in  good  preservation ;  but  all  are  alike  deserted, 
though  little  labour  would  restore  some  of  these  build- 
ings, not  to  their  pristine  glory,  but  to  useful  dwellings. 
And,  passing  from  these,  other  juins  are  numerous  but 
uninteTesting.  But  the  remains  yet  standing  of  one 
grand  temple  are  sufficient  to  exhibit  its  former  magnifi- 
cence, surrounded  as  it  was  by  lofty  columns,  some  of 
which  are  still  entire.  A  noble  alcove,  richly  wrought, 
containing  niches,  and  supported  by  pilasters,  is  yet  per- 
fect, a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  riches  of  ornament,  and 
fine  finish  of  the  corners.  And  near  to  the  ruinous  town 
is  a  Httle  fane,  square  without,  but  circular  within,  both 
sides  being  most  richly  decorated  with  frieze  comers 
and  pilasters  of  the  Corinthian  order.  Four  niches 
within  are  equally  elaborately  carved.  It  is  divided 
into  square  apartments,  each  containing  a  variety  of  rich 
and  elegant  ornaments ;  and  an  open  arch,  which  forms 
the  entrance,  has  the  most  beautifully  carved  ceiling 
which  I  ever  saw."* 

Such  is  now  the  once  royal  city  of  Ammon.  Nume- 
rous ruins,  and  heaps  in  bewildering  confusion,  show 
how  it  has  become  a  desolate  heap.  But  this  is  not  now 
its  only  feature.  Some  buildings  in  good  preservation, 
and  others  still  perfect,  whatever  purpose  they  may  have 
been  constructed  to  serve,  fulfil  now  the  purpose  which, 
long  before  their  erection,  the  prophet  assigned  them. 
Arches,  of  old  trodden  by  the  lovers  of  pleasure,  of  high 
or  of  low  degree,  unbroken  by  time,  which  has  laid  the 
gay  flutterers  in  the  dust,  are  now  promiscuously  crowd- 
ed by  beasts ;  and  where  nobles  were  before  kept  from 
contact  with  their  fellows,  the  pilgrim  traveller  in  a  de- 
solate land  now  has  cause  to  complain  of  the  annoyance 
of  flocks.  It  was  not  for  them  that  arches,  sculptured 
with  exquisite  art,  and  almost  unrivalled  beauty,  were 
erected ;  nor  to  shelter  them  that  walls  which,  uninjured, 
have  endured  for  ages,  were  built ;  nor  did  stables  for 
'  Iiord  Claud  Hamilton's  Journai. 


MOAB.  161 

camels,  and  couching-places  for  flocks,  enter  into  the 
design  of  the  architects  of  the  palaces,  theatres,  or  tem- 
ples of  Ammon,  nor  of  the  sculptors  of  their  beautifully 
carved  cornices  and  ceilings,  and  grand  columns  and 
alcoves.  But  He  who  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
declared  it,  ere  ever  one  of  these  edifices  of  Grecian 
architecture  was  constructed,  or  the  foundation  of  any 
of  them  was  laid,  or  the  plan  of  any  of  them  was 
thought  of;  the  appointed  doom,  and  destiny,  and  use 
to  which  they  have  been  brought,  were  delineated  by 
the  prophets ;  and  as  Ammon  was  taken  by  David,  so 
also,  in  a  higher  sense,  it  is  now  held  captive  by  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  and  awaits  the  time  when  the  children 
of  Israel  shall  be  restored,  and  the  Lord,  in  the  latter 
days,  shall  bring  again  the  captivity  of  Ammon 


MOAB. 

The  prophecies  concerning  Moab  are  more  numerous 
and  not  less  remarkable.  Those  of  them  which  met 
their  completion  in  ancient  times,  and  which  related  to 
particular  events  in  the  history  of  the  Moabites,  and  to 
the  result  of  their  conflict  with  the  Jews  or  any  of  the 
neighbouring  states,  however  necessary  they  may  have 
been  at  the  time  for  strengthening  the  faith  or  supporting 
the  courage  of  the  children  of  Israel,  need  not  now  be 
adduced  in  evidence  of  inspiration ;  for  there  are  abun- 
dant predictions  which  refer  so  clearly  to  decisive  and 
unquestionable  facts,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  single  fea- 
ture peculiar  to  the  land  of  Moab,  as  it  now  exists, 
which  was  not  marked  by  the  prophets  in  their  delinea- 
tion of  the  low  estate  to  which,  from  the  height  of  its 
wickedness  and  haughtiness,  it  was  finally  to  be  brought 
down. 

"Against  Moab  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God 
14* 


163  MOAB. 

of  Israel,  Wo  unto  Nebo !  for  it  is  spoiled  ;  Kiriathaim 
is  confounded  and  taken ;  Misgab  is  confounded  and 
dismayed.  There  shall  be  no  more  praise  of  Moab. 
And  the  spoiler  shall  come  upon  every  city,  and  no  city 
shall  escape :  the  valley  also  shall  perish,  and  the  plain 
shall  be  destroyed,  as  the  Lord  hath  spoken.  Give 
wings  unto  Moab,  that  it  may  flee  and  get  away ;  for 
the  cities  thereof  shall  be  desolate,  without  any  to  dwell 
therein.  Moab  hath  been  at  ease  from  his  youth,  and 
he  hath  settled  on  his  lees,  and  hath  not  been  emptied 
from  vessel  to  vessel,  neither  hath  he  gone  into  captivity. 
Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  send 
unto  him  wanderers  that  shall  cause  him  to  wander. 
How  is  the  strong  staff  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod ! 
Thou  daughter  that  dost  inhabit  Dibon,  come  down 
from  thy  glory,  and  sit  in  thirst ;  for  the  spoiler  of  Moab 
shall  come  upon  thee,  and  he  shall  destroy  thy  strong- 
holds. Moab  is  confounded,  for  it  is  broken  down. 
Moab  is  spoiled.  And  judgment  is  come  upon  the  plain 
country;  upon  Holon,  and  upon  Jahazah,  and  upon  Me- 
phaath,  and  upon  Dibon,  and  upon  Nebo,  and  upon 
Beth-diblathaim  ;  and  upon  Kiriathaim,  and  upon  Beth- 
gamul,  and  upon  Bethmeon,  and  upon  Kerioth,  and 
upon  Bozrah,  and  upon  all  the  cities  of  the  land  of 
Moab,  far  or  near.  The  horn  of  Moab  is  cut  off,  and 
his  arm  is  broken,  saith  the  Lord.  0  ye  that  dwell  in 
Moab,  leave  the  cities  and  dwell  in  the  rock,  and  be 
like  the  dove  that  maketh  her  nest  in  the  sides  of  the 
hole's  mouth.  We  have  heard  the  pride  of  Moab,  (he 
is  exceeding  proud,)  his  loftiness,  and  his  arrogancy, 
and  his  pride,  and  the  haughtiness  of  his  heart.  And 
joy  and  gladness  is  taken  from  the  plentiful  field,  and 
from  the  land  of  Moab  ;  and  I  have  caused  wine  to  fail 
from  the  wine-presses ;  none  shall  tread  with  shouting ; 
their  shouting  shall  be  no  shouting.  From  the  cry  of 
Heshbon  even  unto  Elealeh,  and  even  unto  Jahaz,  have 
they  uttered  their  voice,  from  Zoar  even  unto  Horonaim ; 
the  waters  also  of  Nimrim  shall  be  desolate.  I  have 
broken  Moab  like  a  vessel  wherein  is  no  pleasure.  They 


MOAB.  163 

shall  cry,  how  is  it  broken  down !  And  Moab  shall  be 
destroyed  from  being  a  people,  because  he  hath  magni- 
fied himself  against  the  Lord.  The  cities  of  Aroer  are 
forsaken ;  they  shall  be  for  flocks,  which  shall  he  down, 
and  none  shall  make  them  afraid.  Moab  shall  be  a 
perpetual  desolation."* 

The  land  of  Moab  lay  to  the  east  and  south-east  of 
Judea,  and  bordered  on  the  east,  north-east,  and  partly 
on  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Its  early  history  is  nearly 
analogous  to  that  of  Ammon ;  and  the  soil,  though  per- 
haps more  diversified,  is,  in  many  places  where  the 
desert  and  plains  of  salt  have  not  encroached  on  its 
borders,  of  equal  fertility.  There  are  manifest  and 
abundant  vestiges  of  its  ancient  greatness.  "  The 
whole  of  the  plains  are  covered  with  the  sites  of  towns, 
on  every  eminence  or  spot  convenient  for  the  construc- 
tion of  one.  And  as  the  land  is  capable  of  rich  cultiva- 
tion, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  country,  now  so 
deserted,  once  presented  a  continued  picture  of  plenty 
and  fertility.  "3  The  form  of  fields  is  still  visible  :  and 
there  are  the  remains  of  Roman  highways,  which  in 
some  places  are  completely  paved,  and  on  which  there 
are  mile-stones  of  the  times  of  Trajan,  Marcus  AureHus, 
and  Severus,  with  the  number  of  the  miles  legible  upon 
them.  Wherever  any  spot  is  cultivated,  the  corn  is 
luxuriant ;  and  the  richness  of  the  soil  cannot  perhaps  be 
more  clearly  illustrated  than  by  the  fact,  that  one  grain 
of  Heshbon  wheat  exceeds  in  dimensions  two  of  the 
ordinary  sort,  and  more  than  double  the  number  of  grains 
grow  on  the  stalk.  The  frequency,  and  almost,  in  many 
instances,  the  close  vicinity  of  the  sites  of  the  ancient 
towns,  "  prove  that  the  population  of  the  country  was 
formerly  proportioned  to  its  natural  fertility."^  Such 
evidence  may  surely  suffice  to  prove,  that  the  country 
was  well  cultivated  and  peopled  at  a  period  so  long 

'  Jer.  xlviii.  1,  2,  8,  9,  11,  12,  17,  18,  20—25,  28,  29,  33,  34,  38 
39,  42  ;  Isa.  xvii.  2 ;  Zeph.  ii.  9. 

2  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  378. 

3  Ibid.  pp.  377,  378,  456,  460. 


164  MOAB. 

posterior  to  the  date  of  the  predictions,  that  no  cause 
less  than  supernatural  could  have  existed  at  the  time 
when  they  were  delivered,  which  could  have  authorized 
the  assertion,  with  the  least  probability  or  apparent  pos- 
sibility of  its  truth,  that  Moab  would  ever  have  been 
re4uced  to  that  state  of  great  and  permanent  desolation 
in  which  it  has  continued  for  so  many  ages,  and  which 
vindicates  and  ratifies  to  this  hour  the  truth  of  the  scrip- 
tural prophecies. 

The  cities  of  Moab  were  to  be  desolate  without  any  to 
dwell  therein  ;  no  city  loas  to  escape.  Moab  was  to  flee 
away.  And  the  cities  of  Moab  have  all  disappeared. 
Their  place,  together  with  the  adjoining  part  of  Idumea,, 
is  characterized,  in  the  map  of  Volney's  Travels,  by  the 
ruins  of  towns.  His  information  respecting  these  ruins 
was  derived  from  some  of  the  wandering  Arabs ;  and  its 
accuracy  has  been  fully  corroborated  by  the  testimony 
of  different  European  travellers  of  high  respectability 
and  undoubted  veracity,  who  have  since  visited  this 
devastated  region.  The  whole  country  abounds  with 
ruins.  And  Burckhardt,  who  encountered  many  diffi- 
culties in  so  desolater  and  dangerous  a  land,  thus  records 
the  brief  history  of  a  few  of  them  :  "  The  ruins  of  Eleale, 
Heshbon,  Meon,  Medaba,  Dibon,  Aroer,  still  subsist  to 
illustrate  the  history  of  the  Beni  Israel."^  And  it  might, 
with  equal  truth,  have  been  added,  that  they  still  sub- 
sist to  confirm  the  inspiration  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 
or  to  prove  that  the  seers  of  Israel  were  the  prophets  of 
God,  for  the  desolation  of  each  of  these  very  cities  was 
the  theme  of  a  prediction.  Every  thing  worthy  of  ob- 
servation respecting  them  has  been  detailed,  not  only  in 
Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  but  also  by  Seetzen,  and, 
more  recently,  by  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  who,  along 
with  Mr.  Bankes  and  Mr.  Legh,  visited  this  deserted 
district.  The  predicted  judgment  has  fallen  with  such 
truth  upon  these  cities,  and  upon  all  the  cities  of  the 
land  of  Moab,  far  and  near,  and  they  are  so  utterly 
bi'oken  down,  that  even  the  prying  curiosity  of  such  in- 
'  Burckhardl's  Travels  in  Nubia,  introduction,  p.  38. 


MOAB.  165 

defatigable  travellers  could  discover,  among  a  multipli- 
city of  ruins,  only  a  few  remains  so  entire  as  to  be 
worthy  of  particular  notice.  The  subjoined  description 
is  drawn  from  their  united  testimony. — Among  the  ruins 
of  El  Aal  (Eleale)  are  a  number  of  large  cisterns,  frag- 
ments of  buildings,  and  foundations  of  houses.  At 
Heshban  (Heshbon)  are  the  ruins  of  a  large  ancient 
town,  together  with  the  remains  of  a  temple,  and  some 
edifices.  A  few  broken  shafts  of  columns  are  still  stand- 
ing ;  and  there  are  a  number  of  deep  wells  cut  in  the 
rock.*  The  ruins  of  Medaba  are  about  two  miles  in  cir- 
cumference. There  are  many  remains  of  the  walls  of 
private  houses  constructed  with  blocks  of  silex,  but  not 
a  single  edifice  is  standing.  The  chief  object  of  interest 
is  an  immense  tank  or  cistern  of  hewn  stones,  "  which, 
as  there  is  no  stream  at  Medaba,"  Burckhardt  remarks, 
"  might  still  be  of  use  to  the  Bedouins,  were  the  sur- 
rounding ground  cleared  of  the  rubbish  to  allow  the 
water  to  flow  into  it ;  but  such  an  undertaking  is  far 
beyond  the  views  of  the  wandering  Arabs. ^^  There  is 
also  the  foundation  of  a  temple  built  with  large  stones, 
and  apparently  of  great  antiquity,  with  two  columns  near 
it.2  The  ruins  of  Diban,  (Dibon,)  situated  in  the  midst 
of  a  fine  plain,  are  of  considerable  extent,  but  present 
nothing  of  interest.^  The  neighbouring  hot  wells,  and 
the  similarity  of  the  name,  identify  the  ruins  of  Myoun 
with  Meonj  or  Beth-meon  of  Scripture.'*  Of  this  ancient 
city,  as  well  as  of  Araayr,  (Aroer,)  notliing  is  now  re- 
markable but  what  is  common  to  them  with  all  the  cities 
of  Moab — their  entire  desolation.  The  extent  of  the 
ruins  of  Rabba  (Rabbath-Moab,)  formerly  the  residence 
of  the  kings  of  Moab,  suflSciently  proves  its  ancient  im- 
portance, though  no  other  object  can  be  particularized 

'  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  365. 

2  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  366;  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  37;  Cap 
tains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  471. 

3  Captains  Irby  and-Mangles's  Travels,  p.  462 ;  Seetzen's  Tra- 
vels, p.  38. 

'*  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  365 ;  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels, 
p.  464. 


166  MOAB. 

among  the  ruins,  except  the  remains  of  a  palace  or  tem- 
ple, some  of  the  walls  of  which  are  still  standing ;  a  gate 
belonging  to  another  building ;  and  an  insulated  altar. 
There  are  many  remains  of  private  buildings,  but  none 
entire.  There  being  no  springs  on  the  spot,  the  town 
h^d  two  birkets,  the  largest  of  which  is  cut  entirely  out 
of  the  rocky  ground,  together  with  many  cisterns.* 

Mount  JVebo  was  completely  barren  when  Burckhardt 
passed  over  it,  and  the  site  of  the  ancient  city  had  not 
been  ascertained.''     JVebo  is  spoiled. 

While  the  ruins  of  all  these  cities  still  retain  their  an- 
cient names,  and  are  the  most  conspicuous  amidst  the  wide 
scene  of  general  desolation,  and  while  each  of  them  was 
in  like  manner  particularized  in  the  visions  of  the  pro- 
phet, they  yet  formed  but  a  small  number  of  the  cities 
of  Moab ;  and  the  rest  are  also,  in  similar  verification  of 
the  prophecies,  desolate,  without  any  to  dwell  therein. 
Not  one  of  the  ancient  cities  of  Moab  now  exists,  as 
tenanted  by  man.  Kerek,  which  neither  bears  any  re- 
semblance in  name  to  any  of  the  cities  of  Moab  which 
are  mentioned  as  existing  in  the  time  of  the  Israelites, 
nor  possesses  any  monuments  which  denote  a  very  re- 
mote antiquity,  is  the  only  nominal  town  in  the  whole 
country ;  and,  in  the  words  of  Seetzen,  who  visited  it, 
"  in  its  present  ruined  state  it  can  only  he  called  a  ham- 
let; and  the  houses  have  only  one  floor.  "^  But  the 
most  populous  and  fertile  province  in  Europe- (especially 
any  situated  in  the  interior  of  a  country  like  Moab)  is 
not  covered  so  thickly  with  towns  as  Moab  is  plentifiil 
m  ruins,  deserted  and  desolate  though  now  it  be.  Burck- 
hardt enumerates  about  Jifty  ruined  sites  within  its 
boundaries,  many  of  them  extensive.  In  general  they 
are  a  broken  down  and  undistinguishable  mass  of  ruins ; 
and  many  of  them  have  not  been  closely  inspected.  But 
in  some  instances,  there  are  the  remains  of  temples,  se- 
pulchral monuments,  the  ruins  of  edifices  constructed  of 

1  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  39  ;   Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  377. 

«  Burckhardi's  Travels,  p.  370. 

3  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  338 ;  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  39. 


MOAB.  167 

very  large  stones,  in  one  of  which  buildings  "  some  of 
the  stones  are  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  so  broad  that  one 
constitutes  the  thickness  of  the  wall ;"  traces  of  hanging 
gardens ;  entire  columns  lying  on  the  ground,  three  feet 
in  diameter,  and  fragments  of  smaller  columns ;  and 
many  cisterns  cut  out  of  the  rock.  When  the  towns  of 
Moab  existed  in  their  prime,  and  -were  at  ease, — when 
arrogance  and  haughtiness  and  pride  prevailed  amongst 
them,  the  desolation  and  total  desertion  and  abandonment 
of  them  all  must  have  utterly  surpassed  all  human  con- 
ception. And  that  such  numerous  cities,  which  sub- 
sisted for  many  ages — which  were  diversified  in  their 
sites,  some  of  them  being  built  on  eminences,  and  na- 
turally strong,  others  on  plains,  and  surrounded  by  the 
richest  soil, — some  situated  in  valleys  by  the  side  of  a 
plentiful  stream,  and  others  where  art  supplied  the  defi- 
ciencies of  nature,  and  where  immense  cisterns  were  ex- 
cavated out  of  the  rock, — and  which  exhibit  in  their 
ruins  many  monuments  of  ancient  prosperity,  and  many 
remains  easily  convertible  into  present  utility, — should 
have  all  fled  away,  all  met  the  same  indiscriminate  fate, 
and  be  all  desolate  without  any  to  dwell  therein^  notwith- 
standing all  these  ancient  assurances  of  their  permanent 
durability,  and  these  existing  facilities  and  inducements 
for  being  the  habitations  of  men, — is  a  matter  of  just 
wonder  in  the  present  day ;  and  had  any  other  people 
been  the  possessors  of  Moab,  the  fact  would  either  have 
been  totally  impossible,  or  unaccountable.  Trying  as  this 
test  of  the  truth  of  prophecy  is,  that  is  the  word  of  God, 
and  not  of  erring  man,  which  can  so  well  and  so  triumph- 
antly abide  it.  They  shall  cry  of  Moab,  How  is  it  broken 
down  ! 

The  valley  also  shall  perish,  and  the  plain  shall  be  de- 
stroyed. Moab  has  often  been  a  field  of  contest  between 
the  Arabs  and  the  Turks ;  and  although  the  former  have 
retained  possession  of  it,  both  have  mutually  reduced  it 
to  desolation.  The  different  tribes  of  Arabs  who  tra- 
verse it,  not  only  bear  a  permanent  and  habitual  hostility 
to  Christians  and  to  Turks,  but  one  tribe  is  often  at  va- 


168  MOAB. 

nance  and  at  war  with  another ;  and  the  regular  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil,  or  the  improvement  of  those  natural 
advantages  of  which  the  country  is  so  full,  is  a  matter 
either  never  thought  of,  or  that  cannot  be  realized.  Pro- 
perty is  there  the  creature  of  power  and  not  of  law ;  and 
possession  forms  no  security  wh^ere  plunder  is  the  prefer- 
able right.  Hence  the  extensive  plains,  where  they  are  not 
partially  covered  with  wood,  present  a  barren  aspect, 
which  is  only  relieved  at  intervals  by  a  few  clusters  of 
wild  fig-trees,  that  show  how  the  richest  gifts  of  nature  de- 
generate when  unaided  by  the  industry  of  man.  And  instead 
of  the  profusion  which  the  plains  must  have  exhibited  in 
every  quarter,  nothing  but  "patches  of  the  best  soil  in 
the  territory  are  now  cultivated  by  Arabs ;"  and  these 
only  "  whenever  they  have  the  prospect  of  being  able  to 
secure  the  harvest  against  the  incursions  of  enemies."* 
The  Arab  herds  now  roam  at  freedom  over  the  valleys 
and  the  plains  ;  and  "  the  many  vestiges  of  field  enclo- 
sures"" form  not  any  obstruction ;  they  wander  undis- 
turbed around  the  tents  of  their  masters,  over  the  face 
of  the  country ;  and  while  the  valley  is  perished^  and  the 
plain  destroyed,  the  cities  also  of  Aroer  are  forsaken;  they 
are  for  flocks  which  lie  down,  and  none  make  them  afraid. 

The  strong  contrast  between  the  ancient  and  the  actual 
state  of  Moab  is  exemplified  in  the  condition  of  the  in- 
habitants as  well  as  of  the  land  ;  and  the  coincidence 
between  the  prediction  and  the  fact  is  as  striking  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other. 

The  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  send  unto 
him  {Moab)  wanderers  that  shall  cause  him  to  wander, 
and  shall  empty  his  vessels.  The  Bedouin  {wandering) 
Arabs  are  now  the  chief  and  almost  the  only  inhabitants 
of  a  country  once  studded  with  cities.  Traversing  the 
country,  and  fixing  their  tents  for  a  short  time  in  one 
place,  and  then  decamping  to  another,  depasturing  every 
part  successively,  and  despoiling  the  whole  land  of  its 
natural  produce,  they  are  wanderers  who  have  come  up 

»  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  369. 
2  Ibid.  p.  365. 


MOAB.  169 

against  it,  and  who  keep  it  in  a  state  of  perpetual  desola- 
tion. They  lead  a  wandering  life ;  and  the  only  regu- 
larity they  know  or  practise,  is  to  act  upon  a  systematic 
scheme  of  spoliation.  They  prevent  any  from  forming 
a  fixed  settlement  who  are  inclined  to  attempt  it ;  for 
although  the  fruitfulness  of  the  soil  would  abundantly 
repay  the  labour  of  settlers,  and  render  migration  wholly 
unnecessary,  even  if  the  population  were  increased  more 
than  tenfold  ;  yet  the  Bedouins  forcibly  deprive  them  of 
the  means  of  subsistence,  compel  them  to  search  for  it 
elsewhere,  and,  in  the  words  of  the  prediction,  literally 
cause  them  to  wander.  "  It  may  be  remarked  generally 
of  the  Bedouins,"  says  Burckhardt,  in  describing  their 
extortions  in  this  very  country,  "that  wherever  they  are 
the  masters  of  the  cultivators,  the  latter  are  soon  re- 
duced to  beggary  by  their  unceasing  demands."* 

0  ye  that  dwell  in  Moab,  leave  the  cities  and  dwell  in 
the  rock,  and  be  like  the  dove  that  maketh  her  nest  in  the 
sides  of  the  holers  mouth.  In  a  general  description  of 
the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  extensive  desert 
which  now"  occupies  the  place  of  these  ancient  flourish- 
ing states,  Volney,  in  plain  but  unmeant  illustration  of 
this  prediction,  remarks,  that  "  the  wretched  peasants 
live  in  perpetual  dread  of  losing  the  fruit  of  their  labours ; 
and  no  sooner  have  they  gathered  in  their  harvest,  than 
they  hasten  to  secrete  it  in  private  places,  and  retire 
among  the  rocks  which  border  on  the  Dead  Sea."^  To- 
wards the  opposite  extremity  of  the  land  of  Moab,  and 
at  a  little  distance  from  its  borders,  Seetzen  relates  that 
there  are  many  families  living  in  caverns;  and  he 
actually  designates  them  "  the  inhabitants  of  the  rocks. "^ 
And  at  the  distance  of  a  few  miles  from  the  ruined  site 
of  Heshbon,  "  there  are  many  artificial  caves  in  a  large 
range  of  perpendicular  cliflfs,  in  some  of  which  are 
chambers  and  small  sleeping  apartments."*     While  the 

1  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  381. 

2  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  344. 

3  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  26.  See  Monthly  Review,  vol.  Ixxi.  p.  405. 
''  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  473. 

15 


170  MOAB. 

cities  are  desolate  without  any  to  dwell  therein,  the 
rocks  are  tenanted.  But  whether  flocks  lie  down  in  the 
former,  loithout  any  to  make  them  afraid, — or  whether 
men  are  to  be  found  dwelling  in  the  latter,  and  are  like 
the  dove  that  maketh  her  nest  in  the  sides  of  the  hole's 
mouth, — the  wonderful  transitior\,  in  either  case,  and  the 
close  accordance,  in  both,  of  the  fact  to  the  prediction, 
assuredly  mark  it,  in  characters  that  may  be  visible  to 
the  purblind  mind,  as  the  word  of  that  God  before  whom 
the  darkness  of  futurity  is  as  light,  and  without  whom  a 
sparrow  cannot  fall  unto  the  ground.* 

And  although  chargeable  with  the  impropriety  of  be- 
ing somewhat  out  of  place,  it  may  not  be  here  altogether 
improper  to  remark,  that,  demonstrative  as  all  these 
clear  predictions  and  coincident  facts  are  of  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  it  cannot  but  be  gratifying  to 
every  lover  of  his  kind,  when  he  contemplates  that 
desolation,  caused  by  many  sins,  and  fraught  with  many 

'  Another  prediction  respecting  the  dwellers  in  Moab  ought  not 
perhaps  to  be  passed  over  in  silence,  although  the  terms  in  which 
it  is  expressed  are  not  so  clear  and  unambiguous  as  those  to  which 
the  observations  in  the  text  are  confined,  and  although  it  raa)'^  have 
met  its  primary  fulfilment  in  a  much  earlier  age.  Yet  it  is  so  in- 
telligible, that  the  fact,  to  which  it  bears  an  unrestrained  applica- 
tion, may  be  left  as  its  sole  and  adequate  exposition  :  and  the  con- 
tinued truth  of  the  prophecy  greatly  strengthens,  instead  of  weak- 
ening the  evidence  of  its  inspiration.  And  how  is  Moab  broken 
down  and  spoiled,  when,  in  lieu  of  the  arrogancy  and  exceeding 
pride  and  haughtiness  of  its  ancient  inhabitants,  the  following 
description  is  characteristic  of  the  wanderers  who  now  possess 
it !  "  In  the  valley  of  Wale,"  which  is  situated  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  river  .>^rnon,  into  which  the  Wale  flows,  Burckhardt 
observed  "  a  large  party  of  Arabs  Shererat  encamped — Bedouins 
of  the  Arabian  desert,  who  resort  hither  in  summer  for  pasturage." 
Being  oppressed  and  hemmed  in  by  other  Arab  tribes,  "  they  wan- 
der about  in  misery,  have  very  few  horses,  and  are  not  able  to  feed 
any  flocks  of  sheep  or  goats.— Their  tents  are  very  miserable ; 
both  men  and  women  go  almost  naked,  the  former  being  only 
covered  round  the  waist,  and  the  women  wearing  nothing  but  a 
loose  shirt  hanging  in  rags  about  them."  Moab  shall  be  a  derision. 
As  a  wandering  bird  cast  out  of  the  nest,  so  the  daughters  of  Moab  shall 
be  at  the  fords  of  ArnxoTx.  (iBiarckhardt's  Travels,  pp.  370,  371; 
Jer.  xlviii.  89 ;  Isa.  jcvi.  2.) 


MOAB.  Hi 

miseries,  which  the  wickedness  of  man  has  wrought, 
and  which  the  prescience  of  God  revealed,  to  know  that 
all  these  prophecies,  while  they  mingle  the  voice  of 
wailing  with  that  of  denunciation,  are  the  word  of  that 
God,  who,  although  he  suffers  not  iniquity  to  pass  un- 
punished, overrules  evil  for  good,  and  makes  the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him,  and  who  in  the  midst  of  judg- 
ment can  remember  mercy.  And,  reasoning  merely  from 
the  "  uniform  experience"  (to  borrow  a  term,  and  draw 
an  argument  from  Hume)  of  the  truth  of  the  prophecies 
already  fulfilled,  the  unprejudiced  mind  will  at  once  per- 
ceive the  full  force  of  the  truth  derived  from  experience,* 
and  acknowledge  that  it  would  be  a  rejection  of  the 
authority  of  reason  as  well  as  of  revelation,  to  mistrust 
the  truth  of  that  prophetic  affirmation  of  resuscitating 
and  redeeming  import,  respecting  Ammon  and  Moab, 
which  is  the  last  of  the  series,  and  which  alone  now 
awaits  futurity  to  stamp  it  with  the  brilliant  and  crown- 
ing seal  of  its  testimony.  "  I  will  bring  again  the  cap- 
tivity of  Moab  in  the  latter  days,  saith  the  Lord.^  I 
will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  the  children  of  Ammon, 
saith  the  Lord.^  The  remnant  of  my  people  shall  pos- 
sess them."*  They  shall  build  the  old  wastes,  they  shall 
raise  up  the  former  desolations,  and  they  shall  repair  the 
waste  cities,  the  desolations  of  many  generations."* 

'  "Being  determined  by  custom  to  transfer  the  past,  to  the  future 
in  all  our  inferences ;  where  the  past  has  been  entirely  regular 
and  uniform,  we  expect  the  event  with  the  greatest  assurance,  and 
leave  no  room  for  any  contrary  supposition."  (Hume's  Essay  on 
Probability,  vol.  ii.  p.  61.) 

2  Jer.  xlviii.  47.  '  Jer.  xlix.  6.  ''  Zeph.  ii.  9. 

*  Isa.  Ixi.  4,  Iviii.  12;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  33,  36. 


172  IDUMEA. 


IDUMEA. 


But  a  heavier  and  irreversible  doom  was  deiiounced 
against  the  land  of  Edom  or  Iduinea ;  and  the  testimony 
of  an  infidel  was  the  first  to  show  how  it  has  been  real- 
ized. That  testimony,  as  forming  an  exposition  of 
itself,  may,  in  a  primary  view  of  them,  be  subjoined  to 
the  prophecies,  and  must  have  its  due  influence  on  every 
unbiassed  mind.  There  are  numerous  prophecies  re- 
specting Idumea,  that  bear  a  literal  interpretation,  how- 
ever hyperbolical  they  may  appear.  "  My  sword  shall 
come  down  upon  Idumea,  and  upon  the  people  of  my 
curse,  to  judgment.  From  generation  to  generation  it 
shall  lie  waste ;  none  shall  pass  through  it  for  ever  and 
ever.  But  the  cormorant  and  the  bittern  shall  possess 
it ;  the  owl  also  and  the  raven  shall  dwell  in  it :  and  he 
shall  stretch  out  upon  it  the  line  of  confusion,  and  the 
stones  of  emptiness.  They  shall  call  the  nobles  thereof 
to  the  kingdom,  but  none  shall  be  there,  and  all  her 
princes  shall  be  nothing.  And  thorns  shall  come  up  in 
her  palaces,  nettles  and  brambles  in  the  fortresses  thereof; 
and  it  shall  be  a  habitation  of  dragons,  and  a  court  for 
owls.  The  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  also  meet 
with  the  wild  beasts  of  the  island,  and  the  satyr  (or 
hairy  creature)  shall  cry  to  his  fellow ;  the  screech-owl 
also  shall  rest  there,  and  find  for  herself  a  place  of  rest. 
There  shall  the  great  owl  make  her  nest,  and  lay,  and 
hatch,  and  gather  under  her  shadow:  there  shall  the 
vultures  also  be  gathered,  every  one  with  her  mate. 
Seek  ye  out  of  the  book  of  the  Lord,  and  read  ;  no  one 
of  these  shall  fail,  none  shall  want  her  mate ;  for  my 
mouth  it  hath  commanded,  and  his  spirit  it  hath  gathered 
them.  And  he  hath  cast  the  lot  for  them,  and  his  hand 
hath  divided  it  unto  them  by  line :  they  shall  possess  it 
^or  ever,  from  generation  to  generation  shall  they  dwell 


IDUMEA.  173 

therein.*  Concerning  Edom,  thus  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  Is  wisdom  no  more  in  Teman  ?  is  counsel  perished 
from  the  prudent  ?  I  will  bring  the  calamity  of  Esau 
upon  him  the  time  that  I  will  visit  him.  If  grape- 
gatherers  come  to  thee,  would  they  not  leave  some 
gleaning-grapes  ?  if  thieves  by  night,  they  will  destroy 
till  they  have  enough.  But  I  have  made  Esau  bare,  I 
have  uncovered  his  secret  places,  and  he  shall  not  be 
able  to  hide  himself.  Behold,  they  whose  judgment  was 
not  to  drink  of  the  cup  have  assuredly  drunken :  and 
art  thou  he  that  shall  altogether  go  unpunished  ?  thou 
shalt  not  go  unpunished,  but  thou  shalt  surely  drink  of 
it.  I  have  sworn  by  myself,  saith  the  Lord,  that  Bozrah 
(the  strong  or  fortified  city)  shall  become  a  desolation,  a 
reproach,  a  waste,  and  a  curse ;  and  all  the  cities 
thereof  shall  be  perpetual  wastes.  Lo,  I  will  make  thee 
small  among  the  heathen,  and  despised  among  men. 
Thy  terribleness  hath  deceived  thee,  and  the  pride  of 
thine  heart,  O  thou  that  dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  the 
rock,  that  boldest  the  height  of  the  hill :  though  thou 
shouldest  make  thy  nest  as  high  as  the  eagle,  I  will 
bring  thee  down  from  thence,  saith  the  Lord.  Also 
Edom  shall  be  a  desolation  ;  every  one  that  goeth  by  shall 
be  astonished,  and  shall  hiss  at  all  the  plagues  thereof. 
As  in  the  overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the 
neighbour  cities  thereof,  saith  the  Lord,  no  man  shall 
abide  there,  neither  shall  a  son  of  man  dwell  in  it.^ 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  will  stretch  out  mine  hand 
upon  Edom,  and  will  cut  off  man  and  beast  from  it ; 
and  I  will  make  it  desolate  from  Teman. ^  The  word 
of  the  Lord  came  unto  me,  saying.  Son  of  man,  set  thy 
face  against  Mount  Seir,  and  prophesy  against  it,  and 
say  unto  it.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  will  stretch  out 
my  hand  against  thee,  and  I  will  make  thee  most  deso- 
late. I  will  lay  thy  cities  waste,  and  thou  shalt  be  deso- 
late.'* Thus  will  I  make  Mount  Seir  most  desolate,  and 
cut  off  from  it  him  that  passeth  out,  and  him  that  retum- 

'  Isa.  xxxiv.  5,  10—17.  2  jer.  xlix.  7—10,  12,  13,  15—18. 

3  Ezek.  XXV.  13.  ^  Ezek.  xxxv.  1—4. 

15* 


174  IDUMEA. 

eth.*  I  will  make  thee  perpetual  desolations,  and  thy 
cities  shall  not  return.*  When  the  whole  earth  rejoiceth, 
I  will  make  thee  desolate.  Thou  shalt  be  desolate,  O 
Mount  Seir,  and  all  Idumea,  even  all  of  it ;  and  they 
shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord.^  Edom  shall  be  a  deso- 
late wilderness.'*  For  three  transgressions  of  Edom,  and 
for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away  the  punishment  thereof.* 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  concerning  Edom,  I  have  made 
thee  small  among  the  heathen,  thou  art  greatly  despised. 
Tlie  pride  of  thine  heart  hath  deceived  thee,  thou  that 
dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  whose  habitation  is 
high.  Shall  I  not  destroy  the  wise  men  out  of  Edom, 
and  understanding  out  of  the  mount  of  Esau  ?  The 
house  of  Jacob  shall  possess  their  possessions,  but  there 
shall  not  be  any  remaining  of  the  house  of  Esau.*  I 
laid  the  mountains  of  Esau  and  his  heritage  waste  for 
the  dragons  of  the  wilderness.  Whereas  Edom  saith, 
We  are  impoverished,  but  we  will  return  and  build  the 
desolate  places  ;  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  They  shall 
build,  but  I  will  throw  down  ;  and  they  shall  call  them 
the  border  of  wickedness."^  Is  there  any  country,  once 
inhabited  and  opulent,  so  utterly  desolate?  There  is, 
and  that  land  is  Idumea.  The  territory  of  the  descend- 
ants of  Esau  affords  as  miraculous  a  demonstration  of 
the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  as  the  fate  of  the  child- 
ren of  Israel. 

Idumea  was  situated  to  the  south  of  Judea  and  of 
Moab ;  it  bordered  on  the  east  with  Arabia  Petrsea, 
under  which  name  it  was  included  in  the  latter  part  of 
its  history,  and  it  extended  southward  to  the  eastern 
gulf  of  the  Red  Sea.  A  single  extract  from  the  Travels 
of  Volney  will  be  found  to  be  equally  illustrative  of  the 
prophecy  and  of  the  fact.  "  This  country  has  not  hem 
visited  by  any  traveller,  but  it  well  merits  such  an  atten- 
tion :  for  from  the  report  of  the  Arabs  of  Bakir,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Gaza,  who  frequently  go  to  Maan  and 

1  Ezek.  XXXV.  7.      2  Ezek.  xxxv.  9.       s  Ezek.  xxxv.  14, 15. 
"  Joel  iii.  19.  5  Amos  i.  11.  e  obad.  1— 3,  8,  17,  18. 

^  Mai.  i.  3,  4. 


IDUMEA.  175 

Karak,  on  the  road  of  the  pilgrims,  there  are  to  the 
south-east  of  the  lake  Asphaltites,  (Dead  Sea,)  vnthin 
three  days^  journey,  upwards  of  thirty  ruined  towns  a5- 
solutely  deserted.  Several  of  them  have  large  edifices, 
with  columns  that  may  have  belonged  to  ancient  temples, 
or  at  least  to  Greek  churches.  The  Arabs  sometimes 
make  use  of  them  to  fold  their  cattle  in ;  but  in  general 
avoid  them  on  account  of  the  enormous  scorpions  with 
which  they  swarm.  We  cannot  be  surprised  at  these 
traces  of  ancient  population,  when  we  recollect  that  this 
was  the  country  of  the  Nabatheans,  the  most  powerful 
of  the  Arabs,  and  of  the  Idumeans,  who,  at  the  time  of 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  were  almost  as  numerous  as 
the  Jews,  as  appears  from  Josephus,  who  informs  us, 
that  on  the  first  rumour  of  the  march  of  Titus  against 
Jerusalem,  thirty  thousand  Idumeans  instantly  assem- 
bled, and  threw  themselves  into  that  city  for  its  defence. 
It  appears  that  besides  the  advantages  of  being  under  a 
tolerably  good  government,  these  districts  enjoyed  a 
considerable  share  of  the  commerce  of  Arabia  and  India, 
which  increased  their  industry  and  population.  We 
know  that  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Solomon,  the  cities 
of  Astioum  Gaber  (Esion  Gaber)  and  Ailah  (Eloth)  were 
highly  frequented  marts.  These  towns  were  situated 
on  the  adjacent  gulf  of  the  Red  Sea,  where  we  still  find 
the  latter  yet  retaining  its  name,  and  perhaps  the  former 
in  that  of  El  Akaba,  or  the  end  (of  the  sea.)  These 
two  places  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Bedouins,  who,  being 
destitute  of  a  navy  and  commerce,  do  not  inhabit  them. 
But  the  pilgrims  report  that  there  is  at  El  Akaba  a 
wretched  fort.^  The  Idumeans,  from  whom  the  Jews 
took  only  their  ports  at  intervals,  must  have  found  in 
them  a  great  source  of  wealth  and  population.  It  even 
appears  that  the  Idumeans  rivalled  the  Tyrians,  who  also 
possessed  a  town,  the  name  of  which  is  unknown,  on 
the  coast  of  Hedjaz,  in  the  desert  of  Tih,  and  the  city  of 
Faran,  and,  without  doubt,  El-Tor,  which  served  it  by 
way  of  port.  From  this  place,  the  caravans  might  reach 
'  This  fort  is  at  present  in  the  possession  of  the  Pasha  of  Egypt 


176  IDUMEA. 

Palestine  and  Judea"  (through  Idumea)  "  in  eight  or  ten 
days.  This  route,  which  is  no  longer  than  that  frora 
Suez  to  Cairo,  is  infinitely  shorter  than  that  from  Aleppo 
to  Bassorah."^  Evidence,  which  must  have  been  unde- 
signed, which  cannot  be  suspected  of  partiality,  and 
which  no  illustration  can  strengthen,  and  no  ingenuity 
pervert,  is  thus  borne  to  the  truth  of  the  most  wonderful 
prophecies.  That  the  Idumeans  were  a  populous  and 
powerful  nation  long  posterior  to  the  delivery  of  the  pro- 
phecies :  that  they  possessed  a  tolerably  good  govern- 
ment, (even  in  the  estimation  of  Volney ;)  that  Idumea 
contained  many  cities ;  that  these  cities  are  now  abso- 
lutely deserted,  and  that  their  ruins  swarm  with  enor- 
mous scorpions  ;  that  it  was  a  commercial  nation,  and 
possessed  highly  frequented  marts  ;  that  it  forms  a  shorter 
route  than  an  ordinary  one  to  India,  and  yet  that  it  had 
not  been  visited  by  any  traveller ;  are  facts  all  recorded, 
or  proved  to  a  wish,  by  this  able  but  unconscious  com- 
mentator.^ 

1  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  344 — 346. 

3  None  shall  pass  through  it  for  ever  and  ever.  This  prophecy  has 
been  understood  in  its  most  literal  and  absolute  sense  as  affirming 
that  in  all  time  to  come  no  one  should  ever  be  able  to  pass  through 
this  land  ;  but  even  those  who  adopt  this  interpretation  must  ne- 
cessarily admit  that  it  is  subject  to  certain  limitations.  When 
taken  in  its  most  literal  sense,  it  can  be  viewed  only  as  referring 
to  strangers,  and  not  to  the  natives  of  the  desert,  who  have  been 
in  the  habit  from  time  immemorial  of  traversing  the  country ;  but 
even  in  this  limited  sense  the  interpretation,  we  conceive,  is  very 
unsafe,  and  not  quite  tenable  consistently  with  events  which  have 
already  taken  place.  We  grant  that  for  many  ages  Edom  re- 
mained unvisited  ;  her  sands  were  trodden  only  by  the  foot  of  the 
Bedouin,  and  the  eye  of  the  stranger  never  beheld  the  illustrious 
monuments  which  her  dark  mountains  conceal.  The  gates  of  the 
country,  though  standing  wide  open,  appeared  to  be  as  com- 
pletely barred  against  the  natives  of  other  lands,  as  if  the  same 
sword  which  guarded  of  old  the  doors  of  Eden  had  flamed  before 
the  mountain  passes  of  Seir.  But  now  these  gates  have  been 
entered,  the  country  has  been  explored  and  traversed  in  every 
direction,  and  even  the  veil  of  Wady  Mousa  has  been  lifted  up, 
and  the  monuments  of  that  mysterious  valley  revealed  to  the  eyes 
of  Europe.  Nevertheless,  the  prediction  of  the  prophet  has  re- 
ceived a  striking  fulfilment.    Amid  the  mountains  of  Edom  stood 


IDUMEA.  VT7 

Idumea  was  a  kingdom  previous  to  Israel,  having  been 
governed  first  by  dukes  and  princes,  afterwards  by  eight 
successive   kings,    and   again   by  dukes,  before   there 

a  city  which,  in  ancient  times,  was  the  centre  of  the  trade  of  the 
world.  To  this  city  the  eastern  tribes  transported  the  merchan- 
dise of  India  and  Arabia;  and  from  this  point  it  was  again  sent 
forth  to  the  nations  of  the  west.  To  this  trade,  and  the  great  and 
continual  intercourse  which  it  occasioned  between  all  countries 
and  Edom,  the  prophet  unquestionably  refers.  His  prediction,  "  I 
will  cut  off  from  it  him  that  passeth  out  and  him  that  returneth," 
simply  imports,  we  conceive,  the  entire  annihilation  of  that  traffic. 
And  never  did  prophecy  receive  a  more  striking  fulfilment. 

We  have  already  contemplated  the  small  beginnings  from 
which  arose  the  magnificent  commerce  of  Idumea.  The  early 
Edomite  freighted  his  bark  with  the  produce  of  Arabia,  and  having 
launched  it  on  the  bosom  of  the  Red  Sea,  guided  it  along  the  shore 
to  Ethiopia  and  Egypt,  whence  he  returned  laden  with  such  neces- 
saries as  his  own  country  did  not  supply.  This  trade  gradually 
increased,  till  at  last,  as  Strabo  informs  us,  armies  of  camels  were 
employed  in  conveying  it  through  Edom  to  the  Mediterranean.  At 
that  time  Edom  was  the  great  thoroughfare  of  the  world.  Petra 
was  the  mart  of  nations.  To  this  city  long  lines  of  caravans 
might  be  seen  directing  their  course  from  the  Persian  gulf,  from 
all  points  of  Arabia,  and  from  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea ;  here 
they  all  met,  and  deposited  their  wares  ;  which  other  caravans 
conveyed  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  over  whose  waters 
they  were  transported  to  the  nations  of  the  west.  Under  the  reign 
of  the  Greeks,  the  commerce  of  Idumea  appears  to  have  reached 
its  height,  and  the  vast  wealth  which  it  poured  into  the  country  is 
attested  by  the  numbers  of  its  people  and  the  splendours  of  its 
capital.  The  conquests  of  the  Romans,  which  opened  new  chan- 
nels of  trade,  disturbed  the  commercial  relations  of  Idumea.  The 
traffic  of  the  Persian  gulf,  which  now  began  to  ascend  the 
Euphrates,  was  carried  across  the  Desert  at  a  much  higher  point 
than  Petra.  Palmyra  rose  with  unrivalled  splendour  in  the  midst 
of  sands  ;  and  from  this  period,  the  Nabathean  trade  began  rapidly 
to  decline,  their  capital  to  be  deserted,  and  their  people  to  return 
to  their  former  pastoral  and  wandering  habits.  The  discoveries 
of  the  Portuguese  gave  the  death-blow  to  their  commerce.  The 
merchandise  of  India  is  now  carried  into  Europe  by  sea  ;  and 
many  centuries  have  elapsed  since  a  single  caravan  or  a  solitary 
trader  was  seen  passing  out  or  returning  to  this  land.  Who  but 
Omniscience  could  have  foreseen  the  discoveries  to  which  future 
ages  were  lo  give  birth,  and  the  effects  these  discoveries  were  to 
produce  in  opening  new  channels  of  trade,  and  filling  with  deso- 
lation and  silence  the  ancient  and  once  crowded  thoroughfare  of 
Edom  1  And  when  we  think  that  there  is  not  the  least  likeliho«.4 
of  the  commerce  of  the  world  ever  reverting  to  its  old  channel, 


178  IDUMEA. 

reigned  any  king  over  the  children  of  Israel.^  Its  fer- 
tility and  early  cultivation  are  implied  not  only  in  the 
blessings  of  Esau,  whose  dwelling  was  to  be  the  fatness 
of  the  earth,  and  of  the  dew  of  heaven  from  above ;  but 
also  in  the  condition  proposed  by  Moses  to  the  Edomites, 
when  he  solicited  a  passage  for.  the  Israelites  through 
their  borders,  "  that  they  would  not  pass  through  the 
fields  or  through  the  vineyards  ;''  and  also  in  the  great 
wealth,  especially  in  the  multitudes  of  flocks  and  herds, 
recorded  as  possessed  by  an  individual  inhabitant  of 
that  country,  at  a  period,  in  all  probability,  even  more  re- 
mote.^ The  Iduraeans  were,  without  doubt,  both  an 
opulent  and  a  powerful  people.  They  often  contended 
with  the  Israelites,  and  entered  into  a  league  with  their 
other  enemies  against  them.  In  the  reign  of  David 
they  were  indeed  subdued  and  greatly  oppressed,  and 
many  of  them  were  dispersed  throughout  the  neighbour- 
ing countries,  particularly  Phoenicia  and  Egypt.  But 
during  the  decline  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  and  for 
many  years  previous  to  its  extinction,  they  encroached 
upon  the  territories  of  the  Jews,  and  extended  their  do- 
minion over  the  south-western  part  of  Judea.  Though 
no  excellence  whatever  be  now  attached  to  its  name, 
which  exists  only  in  past  history,  Idumea,  including 
perhaps  Judea,  as  Reland  has  shown,  was  then  not  with- 
out the  praise  of  the  first  of  Roman  poets. 

Primus  Idumceas  referam  tibi,  Mantua,  palmas. 

Virg.  Georg.  iii.  12. 

And  of  Lucan,  (Pharsal.  iii.  216.) 

Arbustis  palmarum  dives  Idume. 
But  Idumea,  as  a  kingdom,  can  lay  claim  to  a  higher 
renown  than  either  the  abunjdance  of  its  flocks,  or  the 
excellence  of  its  palm  trees.      The  celebrated  cit}'  of 

we  see  that  Jehovah  has  not  only  fulfilled  the  prediction  in  cut- 
ting off  from  Edom  him  that  passeth  out,  and  him  that  returneth, 
but  that,  in  all  time  to  come,  none  shall  pass  through  it  for  ever  and 
ever. — Wy lie's  Modern  Jvdea. 

1  Genesis  xxxvi.  31 — 43. 

3  Gen.  xxvii.  39;  Num.  xx.  17;  Job  xlii.  12. 


IDUMEA.  ,  179 

Petra  (so  named  by  the  Greeks,  and  so  worthy  of  its 
name,  on  account  both  of  its  rocky  situation  and  vicinity) 
was  situated  within  the  patrimonial  territory  of  the 
Edomites.  There  is  distinct  and  positive  evidence  that 
it  was  a  city  of  Edom,*  and  the  metropolis  of  the  Naba- 
theans,''  whom  Strabo  expressly  identifies  with  the  Idu- 
means — possessors  of  the  same  country,  and  subject  to 
the  same  laws.^  "  Petra,"  to  use  the  words  of  Dr.  Vin- 
cent, by  whom  the  state  of  its  ancient  commerce  was 
described  before  its  ruins  were  discovered,  "  is  the  capi- 
tal of  Edom  or  Seir,  the  Idumea  or  Arabia  Petrsea  of  the 
Greeks,  the  Nabatea,  considered  both  by  geographers, 
historians,  and  poets,  as  the  source  of  all  the  precious 
commodities  of  the  east."*  "  The  caravans,  in  all  ages, 
from  Minea,  in  the  interior  of  Arabia,  and  from  Gerrha 
on  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  from  Hadramaut  on  the  ocean, 
and  some  even  from  Sabea  or  Yemen,  appear  to  have 
pointed  to  Petra  as  a  common  centre  ;  and  from  Petra  the 
trade  seem's  again  to  have  branched  out  into  every  direc- 
tion, to  Egypt,  Palestine,  and  Syria,  through  Arsinoe, 
Gaza,  Tyre,  Jerusalem,  Damascus,  and  a  variety  of  sub- 
ordinate routes  that  all  terminated  on  the  Mediterranean. 
There  is  every  proof  that  is  requisite  to  show  that  the 
Tyrians  and  Sidonians  were  the  first  merchants  who  in- 
troduced the  produce  of  India  to  all  the  nations  which 
encircled  the  Mediterranean ;  so  there  is  the  strongest 
evidence  to  prove  that  the  Tyrians  obtained  all  their 
commodities  from  Arabia.  But  if  Arabia  was  the  centre 
of  this  commerce,  Petra*  was  the  point  to  which  all 

'  Petra  being  afterwards  more  particularly  noticed,  some  quota- 
tions from  ancient  authors  respecting  it  may  here  be  subjoined. 

UtrgA  TToxK  iv  yn  ESw/uc  t»?  Agct^uts.  (Eusebii  Onomast.)  "  Petra 
civitas  Arabise  in  terra  Edom."  Hieron.  torn.  iii.  p.  59.  Vide 
Relandi  Palestina,  tom.  1,  p.  70. 

^  M»T^o7ro\is  Jt  Tcev  tin^ATcucev  uttiv  «  TliTgct  x-ctKovfAiVn. — Strabo,  lib. 
xvi.  p.  779,  edit.  Paris,  1620,  ed.  Falc.  p.  1106. 

3  NctjiaTcuot  <fi  imv  oi  iJov^aw*.  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  760,  edit.  Falcon 
p.  1081. 

4  Vincent's  Commerce  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  ii.  p.  263. 

*  Agatharchides  Huds.  p.  57.  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  vi.  cap.  xxviii 
quoted  by  Vincent,  ibid  p.  262. 


180  IDUMEA. 

the  Arabians  tended  from  the  three  sides  of  their  vast 
peninsula."*  "  The  name  of  this  capital,  in  all  the  va- 
rious languages  in  which  it  occurs,  implies  a  rock,  and 
as  such  it  is  described  in  the  Scriptures,  in  Strabo,  and 
Al-Edrissi."« 

vA.bout  800  years  before  Christ,  Amaziah,  the  king  of 
Judea,  took  Selah,  (or  Petra,  both  names  alike  signifying 
a  rock,)  after  having  slain  10,000  Edomites.^  Five  hun- 
dred years  thereEifter,  it  withstood  the  repeated  assaults 
of  Demetrius,  who  marched  suddenly  against  it,  to  take 
it  by  surprise  :  and  he  who  afterwards  entered  Babylon, 
retreated  from  before  the  capital  of  Edom.**  Petra,  sub- 
sequently to  its  subjugation  by  the  Nabathean  Arabs,  was 
termed  the  capital  of  Arabia,  or  more  properly  of  Arabia 
Petraea :  and  a  race  of  kings  who  reigned  there  under 
the  names  of  Obodas  and  Aretas,  were  each  successively 
designated  ^  the  king  of  Arabia.'  Three  hundred  years 
after  the  last  of  the  prophets,  and  nearly  a  century  before 
the  Christian  era,  Alexander  Janneus,  king  of  Judea, 
having  taken  several  cities  of  the  Idumeans  and  neigh- 
bouring nations,  was  defeated  by  Obodas,  lost  his  army, 
and  scarcely  escaped  with  his  Jife.  Aretas,  the  successor 
of  Obodas,  who  next  reigned  at  Petra,  *  a  person  very 
illustrious,'  (srttSoloj,)  discomfited  and  slew  Antiochus 
Dionysius,  king  of  Syria ;  and  Coelesyria  was  added  to  his 
dominions.  When  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Alexander,  was 
dispossessed  of  his  kingdom  by  his  elder  brother  Aris- 
tobulus,  Antipater,  an  Idumean  of  great  wealth,  the 
father  of  Herod  the  Great,  urged  him  to  flee  for  aid  to 
*  the  king  of  Arabia,'  and  conducted  him  to  '  Petra, 
where  the  palace  of  Aretas  was.'*  On  the  promised 
restoration  by  Antipater,  as  soon  as  he  should  be  repos- 
sessed of  his  kingdom,  of  the  twelve  cities  and  territory 

*  Vincent's  Comtaerce  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  ii.  pp.  260 — 262. 
2  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  264. 

'  2  Kings  xiv.  7. 

^  Diod.  Sic.  torn.  viii.  p.  416.    Prideaux. 

*  E/f  riergstv  oTTiu  ^Ao-iKutL  tiv  tou  Agiraf.  Joseph.  Ant.  lib.  xiv.  c. 
I,  §  4. 


IDUMEA.  181 

which  his  father  had  taken^  from  the  Arabs  or  Nabathe- 
ans,  Aretas,  at  the  head  of  50,000  men,  horse  and  foot, 
marched  against  Aristobulus,  conquered  him  in  battle, 
and,  advancing  with  all  his  army,  entered  Jerusalem, 
and  having  united  the  forces  of  the  Jews  with  his  own, 
pressed  vigorously  the  siege  of  the  temple,  which  was 
only  raised  by  the  advance  of  the  Romans  to  the  aid  of 
Aristobulus.*^  At  a  period  posterior  as  well  as  prior  to 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  there  always 
reigned  at  Petra,  as  Strabo  relates,  a  king  of  the  royal 
lineage,  with  whom  a  prince  or  procurator,  denominated 
his  brother,  was  associated  in  the  government.^  In  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century,  Petra,  though  its  inde- 
pendence was  lost,  was  still  the  capital  of  a  Roman  pro- 
vince, or  the  reputed  metropolis  of  Arabia;  and,  as  its 
coins  attested,  the  emperor  Adrian  added  his  name  to 
that  of  the  city  i"*  it  long  continued*  to  be  the  capital  of 
the  third  Palestine — Palestina  tertia  sive  salutaris ;  and, 
as  such,  was  also  the  metropolitan  see  of  fifteen  cities 
pertaining  to  that  province.^ 

The  ancient  state  of  Idumea  cannot  in  the  present 
day  be  so  clearly  ascertained  from  the  records  respecting 
it  which  can  be  gleaned  from  history,  whether  sacred  or 
profane,  as  by  the  wonderful  and  imperishable  remains 
of  its  capital  city,  and  by  "the  traces  of  many  towns 
and  villages,"  which  indisputably  show  that  "  it  must 
once  have  been  thickly  inhabited."^  It  not  only  can 
admit  of  no  dispute,  that  the  cities  of  Idumea  subsisted 
in  a  very  different  state  from  that  absolute  desolation  in 
which,  long  prior  to  the  period  of  its  reality,  it  was 
represented  in  the  prophetic  vision ;  but  there  are  pro- 

'  Viz.  Medaba,  Naballo,  Livias,Tharabasa,  Agalla,  Athone,  Zoara, 
Oronae,  Marissa,  Rydda,  Lyssa,  and  Oryba.  Joseph.  Ant.  lib.  xiv. 
c.  1,  §  4. 

2  Joseph.  Ant.  c.  ii.  §  i.  ed.  Falc.  p.  1107.          3  Strabo,  p.  779. 

^  Petra  est  Arabice  metropolis,  quo  spectant  nummi,  in  quibus 
AAPIANH  nETPA  MHTPonOAic  legitur,  &c.  Vide  Relandi  Pa- 
lest, torn.  ii.  p.  9.31. 

•^  Relandi  Palest,  torn.  i.  p.  315,  &c. 

*  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  436. 
16 


182  IDUMEA. 

phecies  regarding  it,  especially  those  in  the  thirty-fourth 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  that  have  yet  a  prospective  view,  and 
which  refer  to  the  time  when  "  the  children  of  Israel 
shall  possess  their  possessions,"  or  to  "  the  year  of  re- 
compenses for  the  controversy  of  Zion."  But,  danger- 
ous as  it  is  to  explore  the  land  of  Idumea,  and  difficult 
to  ascertain  these  existing  facts,  and  precise  circum- 
stances, which  form  the  strongest  features  of  its  desolate 
aspect,  (and  that  ought  to  be  the  subject  of  scientific  as 
well  as  of  religious  inquiry,)  enough  has  been  discovered 
to  show  that  the  sentence  against  it,  though  fulfilled  by 
the  agency  of  nature  and  of  man,  is  precisely  such  as 
was  first  recorded  in  the  annals  of  inspiration. 

Edom  shall  be  a  desolation.  From  generation  to  gene- 
ration it  shall  lie  waste^  &c.  Judea,  Ammon,  and  Moab 
exhibit  so  abundantly  the  remains  and  the  means  of  an 
exuberant  fertility,  tnat  the  wonder  arises  in  the  reflect- 
ing mind,  how  the  barbarity  of  man  could  have  so 
effectually  counteracted,  for  so  "  many  generations,"  the 
prodigality  of  nature.  But  such  is  Edom's  desolation, 
that  the  first  sentiment  of  astonishment  on  the  contempla- 
tion of  it  is,  how  a  wide-extended  region,  now  diversi- 
fied by  the  strongest  features  of  desert  wildness,  could 
ever  have  been  adorned  with  cities,  or  tenanted  for  ages 
by  a  powerful  and  opulent  people.  Its  present  aspect 
would  belie  its  ancient  history,  were  not  that  history 
corroborated  by  "  the  many  vestiges  of  former  cultiva- 
tion," by  the  remains  of  walls  and  paved  roads,  and  by 
the  ruins  of  cities  still  existing  in  this  ruined  country. 

The  total  cessation  of  its  commerce ;  the  artificial  irri- 
gation of  its  valleys  wholly  neglected ;  the  destruction 
of  all  the  cities,  and  the  continued  spoliation  of  the 
country  by  the  Arabs,  while  aught  remained  that  they 
could  destroy ;  the  permanent  exposure,  for  ages,  of  the 
soil,  unsheltered  by  its  ancient  groves,  and  unprotected 
by  any  covering  from  the  scorching  rays  of  the  sun  ;  the 
unobstructed  encroachments  of  the  desert,  and  of  the 
drifted  sands  from  the  borders  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  conse- 
quent absorption  of  the  water  of  the  springs  and  stream- 


IDUMEA.  183 

lets  during  summer ;  are  causes  which  have  all  combined 
their  baneful  operation  in  rendering  Edom  most  desolate^ 
the  desolation  of  desolations.  Volney's  account  is  suffi- 
ciently descriptive  of  the  desolation  which  now  reigns 
over  Idumea ;  and  the  information  which  Seetzen  de- 
rived at  Jerusalem  respecting  it,  is  of  similar  import.* 
He  was  told  "  that  at  the  distance  of  two  days'  journey 
and  a  half  from  Hebron,  he  would  find  considerable 
ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of  Abde,  and  that  for  all  the 
rest  of  the  journey  he  would  see  no  place  of  habitation  ; 
he  would  meet  only  with  a  few  tribes  of  wandering 
Arabs."  From  the  borders  of  Edom,  Captains  Irby  and 
Mangles  beheld  a  boundless  extent  of  desert  view,  which 
they  had  hardly  ever  seen  equalled  for  singularity  and 
grandeur.  And  the  following  extract,  descriptive  of 
what  Burckhardt  actually  witnessed  in  different  parts  of 
Edom,  cannot  be  more  graphically  abbreviated  than  in 
the  words  of  the  prophet.  Of  its  eastern  boundary,  and 
of  the  adjoining  part  of  Arabia  Petreea,  strictly  so  called, 
Burckhardt  writes : — "  It  might  with  truth  be  called 
Petrsea,  not  only  on  account  of  its  rocky  mountains,  but 
also  of  the  elevated  plain  already  described,^  which  is 
so  much  covered  with  stones,  especially  flints,  that  it 
may  with  great  propriety  be  called  a  stony  desert,  al- 
though susceptible  of  culture  :  in  many  places  it  is  over- 
grown with  wild  herbs,  and  must  once  have  been  thickly 
inhabited  ;  for  the  traces  of  many  towns  and  villages  are 
met  with  on  both  sides  of  the  Hadj  road,  between  Maan 
and  Akaba,  as  well  as  between  Maan  and  the  plains  of 
the  Hauran,  in  which  direction  are  also  many  springs. 
At  present  all  this  country  is  a  desert,  and  Maan  (Te- 
man^)  is  the  only  inhabited  place  in  it.''  /  will  stretch 
out  iny  hand  against  thee,  0  Mount  Sdr,  and  will  ma/ce 
thee  most  desolate.  I  will  stretch  out  my  hand  upon 
Edom,  and  will  make  it  desolate  from  Teman,  &c. 

'  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  46. 

2  Sheera,  (Seir,)  the  territory  of  the  Edomites,  pp.  410,  435. 

3  See  map  prefixed  to  Burckhardt's  Travels. 

4  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  436. 


184  IDUMEA. 

In  the  interior  of  Idumea,  where  the  ruins  of  some  of 
Its  ancient  cities  are  still  visible,  and  in  the  extensive 
valley  which  reaches  from  the  Red  to  the  Dead  Sea,  the 
appearance  of  which  must  now  be  totally  and  sadly 
changed  from  what  it  was,  "  the  whole  plain  presented 
to  the  view  an  expanse  of  shifting  sands,  whose  surface 
was  broken  by  innumerable  undulations  and  low  hills. 
The  same  appears  to  have  been  brought  from  the  shores 
of  t/ie  Red  Sea,  by  the  southern  winds ;  and  the  Arabs 
told  me  that  the  valleys  continue  to  present  the  same 
appearance  beyond  the  latitude  of  Wady  Mousa.  In 
some  parts  of  the  valley  the  sand  is  very  deep,  and  there 
is  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  a  road,  or  of  any  work 
of  human  art.  A  few  trees  grow  among  the  sand-hills, 
but  the  depth  of  sand  precludes  all  vegetation  of  herb- 
age."* If  grape-gatJierers  come  to  tliee^  would  they  not 
leave  some  gleaning  grapes  ?  if  thieves  by  night,  they  will 
destroy  till  they  have  enough.  But  I  have  made  Esau 
BARE.  Edom  shall  be  a  desolate  wilderness.  "  On  as- 
cending the  western  plain  on  a  higher  level  than  that  of 
Arabia,  we  had  before  us  an  immense  expanse  of  dreary 
country,  entirely  covered  with  black  flints,  and  here  and 
there  some  hilly  chains  rising  from  the  plain. "^  I  will 
stretch  out  upon  Idumea  the  line  of  confusion,  and  the 
stones  of  emptiness. 

Of  the  remains  of  ancient  cities  still  exposed  to  view 
in  different  places  throughout  Idumea,  Burckhardt  de- 
scribes "  the  ruins  of  a  large  town,  of  which  nothing 
remains  but  broken  walls  and  heaps  of  stones;  the 
ruins  of  several  villages  in  its  vicinity  f  the  ruins  of  an 
ancient  city,  consisting  of  large  heaps  of  hewn  blocks 
of  silicious  stone ;  the  extensive  ruins  of  Gherandel, 
Arindela,  an  ancient  town  of  Palsestina  Tertia.""*  "  The 
following  ruined  places  are  situated  in  Djebal  Shera^ 
(Mount  Seir,)  to  the  S.  and  S.  W.  of  Wady  Mousa: 
Kalaat,  Djerba,  Basta,  Eyl,  Ferdakh,  Anyk,  Bir  el  Bey- 

•  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  442.  2  ibid.  pp.  444,  445. 

^  Ibid.  p.  418.  4  Ibid.  p.  441. 


IDUMEA.  185 

tar,  Shemakh,  and  Syk.  Of  the  towns*  laid  down  in 
D'Anville's  map,  Thoana  excepted,  no  traces  remain."^ 
Laborde  passed  the  ruins  of  Elana,  a  town  in  Wady 
(valley)  Pambouchebe,  of  another  in  Wady  Sabra,  where 
there  are  the  ruins  of  a  theatre  and  several  temples ;  and 
of  Ameime,  where  there  are  the  remains  of  numerous 
cisterns  excavated  from  the  rock,  into  which  the  water 
flowed  by  an  aqueduct  nine  miles  in  length.  /  will  lay 
thy  cities  waste,  and  thou  shall  be  desolate.  0  Mount 
Seir,  I  vnll  make  thee  perpetual  desolations ;  and  thy 
cities  shall  not  return. 

Malachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets,  who  wrote  two  hun- 
dred years  after  Ezekiel,  and  above  three  hundred  after 
Isaiah,  describes  the  heritage  of  Esau  as  laid  waste  for 
tlie  dragons  of  the  wilderness.  But  he  adds.  Whereas 
Edom  saith,  we  are  impoverished.,  hut  we  will  return  and 
build  the  desolate  places  ;  thus  saith  t/ie  Lord,  They  shall 
build,  but  I  will  throw  down.  In  recording  the  invasion 
of  Demetrius,  about  three  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  into  the  land  of  Edom,  Diodorus  describes 
the  country  as  desert,  and  the  inhabitants  as  living 
without  houses  ;  nor  does  he  mention  any  city  in  that 
region  but  Petra  alone.  Yet  the  names  of  some  of  the 
cities  of  Arabia  Petrsea,  enumerated  by  Josephus,  as  ex- 
isting at  the  time  when  the  Romans  invaded  Palestine 
— the  names  of  eighteen  cities  of  Palsestina  Tertia,  of 
which  Petra  was  the  capital,  and  the  metropolitan  see, 
in  the  times  of  the  Lower  Empire — and  the  towns  laid 
down  in  D'Anville's  map,  together  with  the  subsisting 
ruins  of  towns  in  Edom,  specified  by  Burckhardt,  and 
also  by  Laborde — give  proof  that  Edom,  after  having 
been  impoverished,  did  return  and  build  the  desolate 
places ;  even  as  "  the  ruined  towns  and  places,"  still 
visible  and  named,  show  that  though  the  desolate  places 

'  The  names  of  these  towns,  in  the  map  referred  to,  are  Elusa, 
Tamara,  Zoara,  Thoana,  Necta,  Phenon,  Suzuma,  Carcaria,  Obo- 
da,  Berzumma,  Lysa,  Gypsaria,  Zodocata,  Gerasa,  Havara,  PraB- 
sidium  ad  Dianam,  OElana,  Asion  Gaber. 

2  Burckhardt's  Travels,  pp.  443,  444. 
16* 


186  IDUMEA. 

were  built  again,  according  to  the  prophecy,  they  have, 
as  likewise  foretold,  been  thrown  down,  and  are  "  ruined 
places,"  lying  in  utter  desolation. 

While  the  cities  of  Idumea,  in  general,  are  thus  most 
desolate,  and  while  the  ruins  themselves  are  as  indis- 
criminate as  they  are  undefined,  In  the  prediction,  (there 
being  nothing  discoverable,  as  there  was  nothing  fore- 
told, but  their  excessive  desolation,  and  that  they  shall 
not  return,)  there  is  one  striking  exception  to  this  pro- 
miscuous desolation,  which  is  alike  singled  out  by  the 
inspired  prophet  and  by  the  scientific  traveller. 

Burckhardt  gives  a  description  of  no  ordinary  interest, 
of  the  site  of  an  ancient  city  which  he  visited,  the  ruins 
of  which  not  only  attest  its  ancient  splendour,  but  they 
"  are  entitled  to  rank  among  the  most  curious  remains  of 
ancient  art."  Though  the  city  is  desolate,  the  monu- 
ments of  its  opulence  and  power  are  durable.  These 
are,  a  channel  on  each  side  of  the  river,  for  conveying 
the  water  to  the  city  ;  numerous  tombs  ;  above  two  hun- 
dred and  fifly  sepulchres,  or  excavations ;  many  mau- 
soleums, one  in  particular  of  colossal  dimensions,  in 
perfect  preservation,  and  a  work  of  immense  labour, 
containing  a  chamber  sixteen  paces  square,  and  above 
twenty-five  in  height,  with  a  colonnade  in  front  thirty- 
five  feet  high,  crowned  with  a  pediment  highly  orna- 
mented, &c. ;  two  large  truncated  pyramids,  and  a  theatre 
with  all  its  benches,  capable  of  containing  about  three 
thousand  spectators,  all  cut  out  of  the  rock.  In  some 
places  these  sepulchres  are  excavated  one  over  the  other, 
and  the  side  of  the  mountain  is  so  perpendicular  that  it 
seems  impossible  to  approach  tJie  uppermost,  no  path  what- 
ever being  visible.  "  The  ground  is  covered  with  heaps 
of  hewn  stones,  foundations  of  buildings,  fragments  of 
columns  and  vestiges  of  paved  streets,  all  clearly  indi- 
cating that  a  large  city  once  existed  here.  On  the  left 
bank  of  the  river  is  a  rising  ground,  extending  west- 
ward for  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  mile,  entirely  covered 
with  similar  remains.  On  the  right  bank,  where  the 
ground  is  more  elevated,  ruins  of  the  same  description 


*  IDUMEA.  187 

are  to  be  seen.  There  are  also  the  remains  of  a  palace 
and  of  several  temples.  In  the  eastern  clif  there  are 
upwards  of  fifty  separate  sepulchres  close  to  each  other. "^ 
These  are  not  the  symbols  of  a  feeble  race,  nor  of  a  peo- 
ple that  were  to  perish  utterly.  But  a  judgment  was 
denounced  against  the  strongholds  of  Edom.  The  pro- 
phetic threatening  has  not  proved  an  empty  boast,  and 
it  could  not  have  been  the  word  of  an  uninspired  mortal. 
/  will  make  thee  small  among  the  heathen.  Thy  terrible- 
ness  hath  deceived  thee,  and  tJie  pride  of  thine  heart,  0 
thou  that  dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  that  holdest  the 
height  of  the  hill :  though  thou  shouldest  make  thy  nest  as 
high  as  the  eagle,  I  will  bring  thee  down  fro'm  tlience, 
saith  the  Lord.     Also  Edom  shall  be  a  desolation. 

These  descriptions  given  by  the  prophet  and  by  the 
observer  are  so  analogous,  and  the  precise  locality  of  the 
scene,  from  its  pecuhar  and  characteristic  features,  so 
identified, — and  yet  the  application  of  the  prophecy  to 
the  fact  so  remote  from  the  thoughts  or  view  of  Burck- 
hardt,  as  to  be  altogether  overlooked, — that  his  single 
delineation  of  the  ruins  of  the  chief  (and  assuredly  the 
strongest  and  best  fortified)  city  of  Edom  was  deemed 
in  the  first  edition  of  this  treatise,  and  in  the  terms  of 
the  preceding  paragraph,  an  illustration  of  the  prophecy, 
alike  adequate  and  legitimate.  And  though  deprecating 
any  allusion  whatever  of  a  personal  nature,  and  earnest 
only  for  the  elucidation  of  the  truth,  the  author  yet 
trusts  that  he  may  here  be  permitted  to  disclaim  the  cre- 
dit of  having  been  the  first  to  assign  to  the  prediction  its 
wonderful  and  appropriate  fulfilment ;  and  it  is  with  no 
slight  gratification  that  he  is  now  enabled  to  adduce 
higher  evidence  than  any  opinion  of  his  own,  and  to 
state,  that  the  self-same  prophecy  has  been  applied  by 
others — with  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  and  with  the  very 
scene  before  them— to  the  self-same  spot.  Yet  it  may 
be  added,  that  this  coincident  application  of  the  pro- 
phecy, without  any  collusion,  and  without  the  possibility 
it  the  time  of  any  interchange  of  sentiment,  aflfords,  a( 
3  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  pp.  422—432. 


188  IDUMEA. 

least,  a  strong  presumptive  evidence  of  the  accuracy  of 
the  application,  and  of  the  truth  of  the  prophecy ;  and 
it  may  well  lead  to  some  reflection  in  the  mind  of  any 
reader,  if  skepticism  has  not  barred  every  avenue 
against  conviction. 

On  entering  the  pass  which  conducts  to  the  theatre  of 
Petra,  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles  remark ; — "  The  ruins 
of  the  city  here  burst  on  the  view,  in  their  full  grandeur, 
shut  in  on  the  opposite  side  by  barren  craggy  precipices, 
from  which  numerous  ravines  and  valleys  branch  out  in 
all  directions ;  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  covered  with 
an  endless  variety  of  excavated  tombs  and  private  dwell- 
ings, (0  thou  that  dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock, 
&c. — Jer.  xlix.  16,)  presented  altogether  the  most  sin- 
gular scene  we  ever  beheld." 

In  still  farther  confirmation  of  the  identity  of  the  site, 
and  the  accuracy  of  the  application,  it  may  be  repeated 
in  the  words  of  Dr.  Vincent,  that  "  the  name  of  this 
capital,  in  all  the  various  languages  in  which  it  occurs, 
implies  a  rock,  and  as  such  it  is  described  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  Strabo,  and  Al  Edrissi."*  And  in  a  note  he 
enumerates  among  the  various  names  having  all  the 
same  signification — Sela,  a  rock,  (the  very  word  here 
used  in  the  original,)  Petra,  a  rock,  (the  Greek  name, 
which  has  precisely  the  same  signification,)  and  The 
Rock,  pre-eminently — expressly  referring  to  this  passage 
of  Scripture.^  Petrsea,  according  to  Bochart,  no  mean 
authority,  was  so  called  fi-om  its  metropolis  Petra,  of 
which  the  Hebrew  name  was  Selah,  and  the  Arabic, 
Hagar ;  Selah  being  the  very  same  among  the  Hebrews, 
and  Hagar  among  the  Arabians,  as  Petra  among  the 
Greeks  ;  this  name  was  given  to  the  city  because  rocky 
mountains  overhung  it,  of  which  the  Arabian  geographer 
states  that  houses  are  there  excavated  in  the  rock.^  This 

'  Commerce  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  ii.  p.  264. 

2  See  Blaney,  in  loco. 

3  Cum  Petraea  dicatur — a  metropoli  Petra,  cujus  Hebraeum 
nomen  Selah.  2  Kings  xiv.  7,  et  Isa.  xvi.  1,  et  Arabicura  Hagar, 
Geograph.  Nub.  Clim.  iii.  part.  5.  Hebraeis  autem  Selah  et  Arabi- 
bus  Hagar  id  ipsum  sunt  quod  Graecis  Petra;  atque  hoc  nomen 


♦  IDUMEA.  189 

testimony,  however  high  the  authority,  is  yet  enhanced 
by  the  fact,  that  it  was  given  long  before  the  ruins  of 
Petra  were  discovered,  or  the  prediction  appHed  to  the 
facts. 

Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  having,  together  with 
Mr.  Bankes  and  Mr.  Legh,  spent  two  days  in  diligently 
examining  them,  give  a  more  particular  detail  of  the 
ruins  of  Petra  than  Burckhardt's  account  supplied ;  and 
the  more  full  the  description,  the  more  precise  and  won- 
derful does  the  prophecy  appear.  Near  to  the  place 
where  they  entered  Wady  Mousa,  "  the  high  land  was 
covered  upon  both  its  sides,  and  on  its  summits,  with 
lines  and  solid  masses  of  dry  wall.  The  former  ap- 
peared to  be  traces  of  ancient  cultivation,  the  solid  ruins 
seemed  to  be  only  the  remains  of  towers  for  watching  in 
harvest  and  vintage-time.  The  whole  neighbourhood 
of  the  spot  bears  similar  traces  of  former  industry ;  all 
which  seem  to  indicate  the  vicinity  of  a  great  metropo- 
lis."^ A  narrow  and  circuitous  defile,  surrounded  on 
each  side  by  precipitous  or  perpendicular  rocks,  varying 
from  four  hundred  to  seven  hundred  feet  in  altitude,  and 
forming,  for  two  miles,  "  a  sort  of  subterranean  passage," 

urbi  inditum,  quia  illi  imminent  saxosi  montes  de  quibus  ita  Geo- 
graphus  Arabs — Hagar  est  arx  pulchre  sita  inter  montes — suntque 
ibi  domus  excisee  in  petra.  Hos  montes  Arabica  voce  Agar,  id  est, 
Petram,  appellat  Paulus,  Gal.  iv.  25,  tanquam  urbi  cognomines. 
Bochart  Phaleg.  lib.iv.  c.  xxvii.  c.  275,  276.    Edit.  Lugd.  Bat.  1712. 

It  may  be  interesting,  if  not  instructive,  to  the  Christian  reader, 
in  reference  to  the  allegory  spoken  of  by  the  apostle,  (Galatians 
iv.  25,)  to  add,  as  Josephus  has  related,  and  as  the  name  imports, 
that  the  Nabatheans,  who,  after  the  Edomites  possessed  for  so  long 
a  period  Petra  as  their  capital,  were  the  descendants  of  Nebaioth, 
the  first-born  of  Ishmael,  the  son  of  Hagar.  Its  desolate  site  in 
the  present  day,  and  the  unrepealarble  decree  of  perpetual  desola- 
tion which  rests  on  Edom  alone,  may  be  deemed  a. farther  exposi- 
tion of  the  allegory.  And  that  allegory  itself,  which  the  future 
state  of  the  world  has  yet  fully  to  expound,  would  prove  to  be 
written  for  instruction  in  righteousness,  if  men  were  hence  led, 
from  its  prophetic  truth  and  spiritual  application,  to  consider  the 
different  character  and  final  fate  of  the  children  of  the  bond-wo- 
man and  of  the  free. 

'  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  402. 


V^,: 


190  IDUMEA. 

Opens  on  the  east  the  way  to  the  ruins  of  Petra.  The 
rocks,  or  rather  hills,  then  diverge  on  either  side,  and 
leave  an  oblong  space,  where  once  stood  the  metropolis 
of  Edom,  deceived  by  its  terribleness,  where  now  lies  a 
waste  of  ruins,  encircled  on  every  side,  save  on  the 
north-east  alone,  by  stupendous  clitTs,  which  still  show 
how  the  pride  and  labour  of  art  tried  there  to  vie  with 
the  sublimity  of  nature.  Along  the  borders  of  these 
cliffs,  detached  masses  of  rock,  numerous  and  lofty,  have 
been  wrought  into  sepulchres,  the  interior  of  which  is 
excavated  into  chambers,  while  the  exterior  has  been 
cut  from  the  live  rock  into  the  forms  of  towers,  with 
pilasters,  and  successive  bands  of  frieze  and  entablature, 
wings,  recesses,  figures  of  animals,  and  columns.'  The 
subjoined  cut  may  convey  an  idea  of  some  of  these  sin- 
gular excavations. 


Yet,  numerous  as  they  are,  these  form  but  a  part  of 
"  the  vast  necropolis  of  Petra."  "  Tombs  present  them- 
selves, not  only  in  every  avenue  to  the  city,  and  upon 
every  precipice  that  surrounds  it,  but  even  intermixed 
almost  promiscuously  with  its  public  and  domestic  edi- 
fices ;  the  natural  features  of  the  defile  grew  more  and 
^more  imposing  at  every  step,  and  the  excavations  and 
sculpture  more  frequent  on  both  sides,  till  it  presented  at 
last  a  continued  street  of  tombs."  The  base  of  the 
cliffs,  wrought  out  into  all  the  symmetry  and  regularity 
'  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  407. 


INTERIOR     OF     A     TOMB. 


E  -X  T  E  R  I  O  R     O  p 


A      T  O  .^I  B  . 


IDUMEA.  191 

of  art,  with  colonnades  and  pedestals,  and  ranges  of  cor- 
ridors adhering  to  the  perpendicular  surface  ;  flights  of 
steps  chiselled  out  of  the  rock ;  grottos,  "  which  are  cer- 
tainly not  sepulchral ;"  some  excavated  residences  of 
large  dimensions,  in  one  of  which  is  a  single  chamber, 
sixty  feet  in  length,  and  of  a  breadth  proportioned ; 
other  dwellings  of  inferior  note,  particularly  abundant  in 
one  defile  leading  to  the  city,  the  steep  sides  of  which 
contain  a  sort  of  excavated  suburb,  accessible  by  flights 
of  steps ;  niches,  sometimes  thirty  feet  in  excavated 
height,  with  altars  for  votive  offerings,  or  with  pyramids, 
columns,  or  obelisks :  a  bridge  across  a  chasm  now  ap- 
parently inaccessible  :  some  small  pyramids  hewn  out  of 
the  rock  on  the  summit  of  the  heights  ;  horizontal  grooves 
for  the  conveyance  of  water,  cut  in  the  face  of  the  rock, 
and  even  across  the  architectural  fronts  of  some  of  the 
excavations  ;  and,  in  short,  "  the  rocks  hollowed  out 
into  innumerable  chambers  of  different  dimensions, 
whose  entrances  are  variously,  richly,  and  often  fantas- 
tically decorated  with  every  imaginable  order  of  archi- 
tecture ;"* — all  united  not  only  form  one  of  the  most 
singular  scenes  that  the  eye  of  man  ever  looked  upon, 
or  the  imagination  painted — a  group  of  wonders  perhaps 
unparalleled  in  their  kind — but  also  give  indubitable 
proof,  both  that  in  the  land  of  Edom  there  was  a  city 
where  human  ingenuity  and  energy  and  power  must  have 
been  exerted  for  many  ages,  and  to  so  great  a  degree  as 
to  have  well  entitled  it  to  be  noted  for  its  strength  or 
terriblenesSj  and  that  the  description  given  of  it  by  the 
prophets  of  Israel  was  as  strictly  literal  as  the  prediction 
respecting  it  is  true.  "  The  barren  state  of  the  country, 
together  with  the  desolate  condition  of  the  city,  without 
a  single  human  being  living  near  it,  seem,"  in  the  words 
of  those  who  were  spectators  of  the  scene,  "  strongly  to 
verify  the  judgment  denounced  against  it."^     0  thou. 

'  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  pp.  407 — 437;    Mac- 
michael's  Journey,  pp.  228,  229. 

2  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  439. 


192  IDUMEA. 

that  dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  fyc.  Also  Edom 
shall  be  a  desolation,  fyc. 

Of  all  the  ruins  of  Petra,  the  mausoleums  and  sepul- 
chres are  among  the  most  remarkable,  and  they  give  the 
clearest  indication  of  ancient  and  long-continued  royalty, 
and  of  courtly  grandeur.  Their  immense  number  cor- 
roborates the  accounts  given  of  their  successive  kings 
and  princes  by  Moses  and  Strabo,  though  a  period  of 
eighteen  hundred  years  intervened  between  the  dates  of 
their  respective  records  concerning  them.  The  structure 
of  the  sepulchres  also  shows  that  many  of  them  are  of  a 
more  recent  date.  "  Great,"  says  Burckhardt,  "  must 
have  been  the  opulence  of  a  city  which  could  dedicate 
such  monuments  to  the  memory  of  its  rulers."^  But  the 
long  line  of  the  kings  and  of  the  nobles  of  Idumea,  has 
for  ages  been  cut  off;  they  are  without  any  representa- 
tive now,  without  any  memorial  but  the  multitude  and 
the  magnificence  of  their  unvisited  sepulchres.  They 
shall  call  the  nobles  thereof  to  the  Idngdom,  (or  rather, 
they  shall  call,  or  summon,  the  nobles  thereof,)  but  there 
shall  be  no  kingdom  there,  and  all  her  princes  shall  be  no- 
thing. 

Amidst  the  mausoleums  and  sepulchres,  the  remains 
of  temples  or  palaces,  and  the  multiplicity  of  tombs, 
which  all  form  as  it  were  the  grave  of  Idumea,  where 
its  ancient  splendour  is  interred,  there  are  edifices,  the 
Roman  and  Grecian  architecture  of  which  decides  that 
they  were  built  long  posterior  to  the  era  of  the  prophets.^ 
They  shall  build,  but  I  will  throw  down.  The  description 
given  by  Volney,  and  depending  for  its  accuracy  on  the 
authority  of  Arabs,  formed  till  very  recently  the  only 
account  of  the  modern  state  of  Idumea ;  and  though  the 
testimony  was  recorded  in  a  manner  and  came  through 
a  channel  the  most  unsuspected  possible,  yet  the  evi- 
dence was  not  sufficiently  direct  or  discriminating  to 
mark,  as  Volney  had  otherwise  done,  the  exact,  pro- 
phetic, and  characteristic  features  of  the  scene.  The 
1  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  425.  2  ibid. 


IDUMEA.  193 

interesting  details,  from  personal  observation,  commu- 
nicated by  Burckhardt,  and  subsequently  by  Captains 
Irby  and  Mangles,  rescued  the  subject  from  obscurity, 
and  brought  to  light  the  remarkable  fact  of  the  ruins  of 
a  city,  surrounded  by  excavated  rocks,  in  the  midst  of 
the  desert. 

When,  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  the  people  shouted 
hosannahs  to  the  Son  of  David,  and  while  some  of  the 
Pharisees  among  the  people  said  unto  him,  Master,  re- 
buke thy  disciples,  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  I 
tell  you,  that  if  these  should  hold  their  peace,  the  stones 
would  immediately  cry  out.  And  in  an  infidel  age, 
while  many  modern  cities  and  nations  disowned  the 
authority  of  the  God  of  Israel  and  disbelieved  his  word, 
those  of  ancient  times  stood  forth  anew  before  the  world, 
like  witnesses  arisen  from  the  dead,  to  show  the  authority, 
the  power,  and  the  truth  of  his  word  over  them,  and  to 
raise  a  warning  and  instructive  voice  to  the  cities  of  the 
nations,  lest  they  too  should  become  the  monuments  of 
the  WTath  which  they  have  defied.  And  when  men 
would  not  hear  of  hosannahs  to  the  Son  of  David,  or  of 
divine  honours  to  the  name  of  Christ,  deserts  immedi- 
ately spake  and  rocks  cried  out,  and,  responding  to  the 
voice  of  the  prophets,  testified  of  them  who  testified  of 
Jesus.  The  capital  of  Edom,  as  well  as  the  capitals  of 
other  ancient  kingdoms,  was  heard  of  again ;  and  its 
rocks  now  send  forth  a  voice  that  may  well  reach  unto 
the  ends  of  the  earth. 

It  entered  not  into  the  thoughts  of  the  writer,  and  far 
surpassed  his  hopes,  when  first  led  to  look  into  the  pro- 
phecies concerning  Edom,  from  the  statement  of  an  Arab 
report  recorded  by  Volney,  that  in  so  short  a  time  the 
fulfilment  of  these  prophecies  might  be  set  before  the 
eyes  of  men,  even  without  their  having  to  "  come  and 
see."  And  after  having  adduced  new  evidence  in  suc- 
cessive editions  from  striking  facts,  clearly  illustrative 
of  the  predictions  relative  to  Edom,  and  to  its  once 
terrible  metropolis,  an  appeal  may  now  be  made  to  the 
sight  as  well  as  to  the  understanding  of  men.  For  just 
17 


IW  IDUMEA. 

as  these  pages  are  passing  through  the  press,*  the  author 
has  timely  received  from  Paris  (and  would  that  that  city 
would  give  heed  to  the  truth,  which  it  thus  farther 
affords  the  means  of  confirming)  the  first  six  livraisons 
of  a  work  entitled,  Voyage  de  VArahk  PHHe  par  Mess.. 
Leon  de  Laborde  et  Ldnant,  now  in  the  course  of  publi- 
cation, which  contains,  in  the  numbers  first  pubhshed, 
seventeen  splendid  engravings  of  the  ruins  of  Petra 
alone,  in  which,  by  merely  affixing  a  text,  the  beauties 
of  art  become  immediately  subservient  to  the  interests 
of  religion.  To  these,  others  are  now  added,  and  the 
splendid  work  has  been  completed.  Where,  very  re- 
cently, it  was  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  ascertain  a 
single  fact,  and  where  only  indirect  evidence  could  be 
obtained,  men  may  now,  as  it  were,  look  upon  Idumea, 
and  see  how  the  lines  of  confusion  and  the  stones  of 
emptiness  have  been  stretched  over  it.  And  we  may 
now,  in  like  manner,  look  upon  the  ruins  of  the  chief 
city  of  Edom,  of  which  the  very  existence  was  till  lately 
altogether  unknown.  All  the  plates  attest  it^  vast  mag- 
nificence, and  the  almost  incredible  and  inconceivable 
labour,  continued  as  it  must  have  been  from  age  to  age, 
prior  to  the  days  of  Moses  and  later  than  the  Christian 
era,  by  which  so  great  a  multiplicity  of  mausoleums  were 
excavated  from  the  rock.  And  Truth  speaks  out,  not 
fi-om  the  lips  of  a  lying  spirit  evoked  by  the  fancy  of  a 
skeptical  philosopher,  but  from  the  face  of  the  live  rock, 
which  exhibits  the  excavations  in  the  clefts,  singularly 
characteristic  of  the  scene,  and  declares  by  the  order  of 
architecture,  as  if  still  told  by  every  stroke  of  the  chisel, 
that  the  citizens  of  Petra  did  build  after  the  era  of  the 
prophets ;  while  the  fragments  of  ruins,  of  Grecian  and 
Roman  architecture,  as  well  as  of  more  ancient  date, 
which  are  strewed  over  the  ground,  and  cover  the  valley 
which  was  the  site  of  the  city,  and  which  is  surrounded 
by  precipitous  hills  and  excavated  rocks,  show  that  those 
buildings,  whose  doom  was  pronounced  before  their 
'  Sixth  edition. 


CORINTHIAN  COLUMNS  IN  PETBA. 


IDUMEA.  195 

erection,  have,  according  to  the  same  sure  word,  been 
thrown  down. 

The  topographical  view  of  the  land  of  Idumea,  taken 
from  El  Nakb,  gives  us  to  see  that  Edom  is  most  deso- 
late, the  desolation  of  desolations ;  that  the  country  which 
was  given  unto  Esau,  as  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  in 
which  many  cities  were  built,  has  been  made  hare,  and 
that  the  lines  of  confusion  and  the  stones  of  emptiness 
have  been  stretched  over  it.  In  the  brief  explanatory  note 
which  accompanies  the  plate,  it  is  stated,  that  "  no  map, 
however  well  executed,  can  represent  the  aspect  of  a 
country  so  well  as  views  taken  from  an  elevated  point, 
and  comprehending  a  great  extent.  It  is  from  such  demi- 
panoramas  alone  that  a  correct  idea  can  be  formed. 
Such  has  been  the  object  proposed  in  drawing  these  two 
views."  (The  other  view,  of  a  similar  character,  repre- 
sents the  southern  coast  of  Edom,  on  the  borders  of  the 
Red  Sea.  The  accompanying  view  has  been  selected, 
as  comprehending  the  greatest  extent,  and  showing  the 
aspect  of  the  country.) 

"  The  view  is  taken  from  El  Nakb,  a  precipitous 
ascent,  six  miles  south  of  Mount  Hor,  and  consequently 
of  Petra.  It  comprehends  to  the  left,  or  the  west,  Wady 
Arabia,  (or  the  valley  of  Arabia,)  a  long  and  straight 
plain  of  sand,  which,  commencing  at  the  Red  Sea,  ex- 
tends to  the  north,  in  a  direct  line  to  the  Jordan,  and 
was,  without  doubt,  the  ancient  bed  of  that  river  before 
the  volcanic  eruption  which  formed  the  actual  basis  of 
the  Dead  Sea,  and  of  which  the  Bible  has  given  so  faithful 
a  recital.  On  the  right  bank,  towards  the  west,  lies  the 
adjoining  Wady  Gebb,  through  which  the  Fellahs  of 
Petra  repair  to  Gaza.  Towards  the  east,  (on  the  right 
of  the  view,)  there  is  seen,  in  the  middle  of  a  small 
plain,  an  insulated  rock  called  El  Aase,  on  which  is  a 
tomb  of  the  same  form  of  construction  as  those  of  Petra. 
Farther  to  the  right  is  a  high  rock,  which  forms,  as  it 
were,  the  first  rampart  in  the  environs  of  Petra,  elevated 
in  the  form  of  a  cone,  with  a  tree  on  the  summit.  Fol- 
lowing the  same  direction,  we  meet  with  Mount  Hor, 


196  IDUMEA. 

the  highest  rock  in  the  country,  on  the  summit  of  which 
is  seen  the  Tomb  of  Aaron^  held  in  great  veneration  in 
that  region.  To  the  east  of  that  mountain,  in  a  small 
plain  of  unequal  surface,  enclosed  in  the  midst  of  rocks, 
o(  which  the  masses  seem  to  be  accumulated  and  pressed 
together,  is  built  the  city  of  Petfa,  the  capital  of  the  Na- 
batheans.  The  picture  is  terminated  by  the  grand  chain 
of  mountains  which  separates  Arabia  Deserta  from  Ara- 
bia Petraea,  properly  so  called." 

The  explicit  testimony  of  Laborde  here  enhances  the 
worth  of  his  valuable  engravings.  It  is,  he  states, 
"  from  the  summit  of  El  Nakb  that  one  can  judge  of  the 
general  aspect  of  the  country,  of  the  melancholy  and  dis- 
mal character  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  convey  an  idea 
with  the  pencil  alone."  But  the  prophetic  description 
surpasses  that  of  the  pen  or  pencil  of  man,  however 
gifted  the  painter,  or  however  graphic  the  delineation. 
For  he  immediately  adds,  "Many  prophets  have  an- 
nounced the  misery  of  Idumea,  but  the  strong  language 
of  Ezekiel  can  alone  come  up  to  the  height  (or  reach 
the  acme)  of  this  great  desolation."*  Moreover  the  word 
of  tJie  Lord  came  unto  me,  saying.  Son  of  man,  set  thy 
face  against  Mount  Seir  and  prophesy  against  it,  and  say 
unto  it,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold,  0  Mount  Seir^ 
I  am  against  thee,  and  I  mil  make  thee  most  desolate. 
I  will  lay  thy  cities  waste,  and  when  the  whole  earth  re- 
jaiceth,  I  will  make  thee  desolate.  I  will  make  Mount 
Seir  most  desolate,  and  cut  off  from  it  him  that  passeth 
out  and  him  that  returneth.  And  I  will  fill  his  moun- 
tains with  his  slain  men,  and  in  thy  hills  and  in  thy 
valleys,  and  in  all  thy  rivers,  shall  they  fall  that  are 
slain  with  the  sword.  I  will  make  thee  perpetual  desola- 
tions, and  thy  cities  shall  not  return,  and  ye  shall  know 
that  I  am  the  Lord.^ 

'  On  peut  juger  ainsi  de  leur  Elevation  et  de  Taspect  general  du 
pays,  dont  le  triste  et  lugubre  charactere  est  difficile  a  transporter 
avec  I'aide  seule  du  crayon.  Plusieurs  prophetes  avaient  annonc6 
le  malheur  de  I'ldumee;  mais  la  forte  parole  d'Ezechiel  peut  seule 
s'6lever  a  la  hauteur  de  cette  grande  desolation. — Voyage,  p.  61. 

2  Ezek.  XXXV. 


IDUMEA..  197 

One  engraving  is  peculiarly  striking,  as  indirectly 
exemplifying  the  unique  character  of  the  scenery,  by 
which,  at  a  glance,  Petra  is  identified,  and  distinguished 
from  any  other  city  that  ever  existed.  The  design 
of  the  picture  is  to  represent  an  isolated  column.  But 
the  back-ground  exhibits  to  view  "  a  part  of  the  val- 
ley of  Moses,"  (Wady  Mousa,)  with  the  high  rocks  in 
the  more  distant  perspective  "pierced  with  thousands 
of  excavations,"  (perces  de  milliers  excavations.)  The 
reader  will  be  aware  that  the  minute  appearance  of  the 
excavations  is  occasioned  by  the  distance  of  the  view, 
and  consequent  diminution  of  the  apparent  height  of  the 
rocks ;  and  in  the  multiplicity  of  excavations,  percepti- 
ble even  in  the  rocks  which  border  the  elongated  valley, 
he  will  not  fail  to  observe  those  in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks, 
and  to  see  how  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  of  Edom 
made  their  nest  as  high  as  the  eagWs.  This  perfect 
coincidence  both  with  the  description,  as  identifying  the 
spot,  and  with  the  prediction  of  the  prophet,  as  now 
abandoned  and  desolate,  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  it 
is  incidentally  and  indirectly  placed  in  view,  the  title  of 
the  print  being,  A  View  of  an  Isolated  Column  (Vue 
d'une  Colonne  isolee.) 

In  the  notes  connected  with  the  ruins  of  a  temple,  of 
which  two  views  are  given,  it  is  stated  that  "  besides 
the  gigantic  and  singular  tombs  cut  out  of  the  rock,  Pe- 
tra contains  a  great  number  of  monuments,  of  which  the 
ruins  attest  the  beautiful  style  and  the  magnificence  ;  hut 
of  all  these  buildings ,  the  only  one  which  has  resisted  the 
ravages  of  time  is  that  which  is  here  represented.  Situ- 
ated to  the  west  of  the  city,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  it 
towers  over  the  innumerable  wreck  of  buildings  (debris) 
which  covers  the  soil,  and  yet  presents,  though  in  ruins, 
a  beautiful  mass,  and  beautiful  details  of  architecture. 
The  cornice  which  surmounts  the  temple  is  in  a  pure  and 
elegant  style.  In  the  back-ground  is  seen  the  antique 
pavement,  as  it  still  exists." 

In  explanation  of  the  plate  which  represents  the  ruins 
of  a  triumphal  arch,  it  is  stated,  "  The  passage  under 
17* 


IW  IDUMEA. 

the  triumphal  arch  leads  to  a  public  place,  a  species  of 
forum,  paved  with  large  flag-stones,  which  reach  to  the 
temple  that  is  seen  in  the  back-ground.  The  monument 
represented  in  this  view  formed  three  arcades,  of  which 
one,  that  in  the  middle,  is  by  far  the  largest,  and  served 
for  carriages,  and  the  two  others  for  foot-passengers. 
There  is  observable  in  the  construction  some  analogy  to 
the  triumphal  arch  which  terminates  the  colonnade  of 
Palmyra,  towards  the  east.  The  pilaster,  which  still  re- 
mains, is  that  which  separates  the  middle  arch  from  that 
of  one  of  the  corners."  "  This  view  is  taken  from  the 
west,  and  represents  the  same  monument  described  (as 
above)  in  the  preceding  livraison.  In  the  back-ground 
is  seen  one  part  of  the  grand  funereal  monuments." 

Other  plates  present  to  view  the  vast  magnificence  of 
the  tombs  of  Petra.  There  is  one  tomb,  of  which  a  view 
is  given,  which  is  peculiarly  deserving  of  notice,  there 
being  engraven  on  it  a  Latin  inscription,  with  a  name  of 
a  magistrate,  Quintus  Praetextus  Florentinus,  who  died  in 
that  city,  being  governor  of  that  part  of  Arabia  Petraea. 
"  It  behoved  to  be,"  it  is  said,  "  about  the  time  of 
Adrian  or  Antoninus  Pius,"  or  at  a  period  unquestion- 
ably several  centuries  posterior  to  the  latest  of  the  pre- 
dictions. 

Elaborate  descriptions  of  splendid  scenes  by  the  pen 
of  travellers  are,  as  Laborde  remarks,  sometimes  charged 
with  being  exaggerated.  But  the  views  which  he  gives 
of  the  Khasne  of  Petra  show  that  the  verbal  description 
might  be  highly  wrought,  and  yet  come  short  of  the 
truth  ;  even  as  he  and  others  remark  that  the  pencil 
itself  can  convey  only  an  inadequate  representation  of 
*  the  magnificent  edifice,'  which,  to  this  day,  is  only 
slightly  defaced. 

^^ I  will  make  thee  perpetual  desolations,  and  thy  cities 
shall  not  return,  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the 
LoRD."^  "  Every  one  that  goeth  by  it  shall  be 
ASTONISHED. "*»  "I  would,"  says  a  recent  traveller, 
"  that  the  skeptic  could  stand  as  I  did,  among  the  ruins 
'  Bzek.  XXXV.  9.  3  jgr.  xlix   17. 


FRONT      VIEW      OF     T  H  E      K  II  A  S  N  E  . 


IDUMEA.  W§ 

of  this  city  among  the  rocks,  and  there  open  the  sacred 
book  and  read  the  words  of  the  inspired  penman,  written 
when  this  desolate  place  was  one  of  the  greatest  cities  in 
the  world.  I  see  the  scoff  arrested,  his  cheek  pale,  his 
lip  quivering,  and  his  heart  quaking  with  fear,  as  the 
ruined  city  cries  out  to  him  in  a  voice  loud  and  power- 
ful as  that  of  one  risen  from  the  dead : — though  he  would 
not  believe  Moses  and  the  prophets,  he  believes  the  hand- 
writing of  God  himself,  in  the  desolation  and  eternal  ruin 
around  him."* 

"  Days  and  weeks,"  says  Lord  Lindsay,  "  might  be 
spent  here  (at  Petra)  if  every  excavation  were  visited. 
We  left  the  valley  after  revisiting  the  Khasne,  and  ex- 
ploring several  of  the  excavated  dwellings,  for  it  is  clear, 
I  think,  both  from  the  language  of  Scripture  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  caves  themselves,  that  the  majority,  if 
not  all  of  them,  were  the  abodes  of  the  living,  not  of  the 
dead.  Such  is  Petra,  the  Sela  of  Scripture,  the  Hagar 
of  the  Arabs,  each  word  signifying  the  same.  '  Thy  ter- 
ribleness  hath  deceived  thee,  and  the  pride  of  thine 
heart,  O  thou  that  dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  The  Rock, 
that  boldest  the  height  of  the  hill :  though  thou  make 
thy  nest  as  high  as  the  eagle, — though  thou  set  thy  nest 
among  the  stars,  thence  will  I  bring  thee  down,  saith  the 
Lord.'  "2 

..."  We  passed  many  ruins  and  excavations,  both 
on  this  and  on  the  other  side  of  Petra.  "^ 

"  On  leaving  Eel  Webe,  we  entered  the  low  barren 
ridges  that  skirt  Wady  Araba  on  the  west,  and,  for 
several  hours  during  this  and  the  following  day,  traversed 
a  country  of  the  most  utter  desolation,  hills  succeeding 
hills,  without  the  slightest  picturesque  beauty,  covered 
with  loose  flints  and  gravel ;  sterility  in  its  most  repul- 
sive garb  ;  it  made  the  very  heart  ache,  and  the  spirits 
sink.  And  such  is  Edom,  *  most  desolate,'  as  prophecy 
foretold  it  should  be,"  fee*    "  We  encamped  in  Wady 

1  Incidents  of  Ti-avels  in  Arabia  Petraea,  &c.,  by  an  Americau. 
Vol.  ii.  p.  76.     New  York,  1837. 

2  Vol.  ii.  pp.  38, 39.  s  Ibid.  p.  41.  4  Ibid.  p.  46. 


200  IDUMEA. 

Koumou,  near  the  extensive  ruins  of  an  ancient  walled 
town,  bearing  the  same  name.  We  saw  fragments  of 
pillars  lying  about,  but  no  inscriptions ;  the  town  is,  in- 
deed, a  mere  heap  of  stones."^  "  I  have  no  doubt  that 
thi^s  is  the  Elusa  of  the  Romans,  the  first  Roman  town 
on  the « great  road  from  Jerusaleni  to  Aila."^ 

Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  who,  together  with  Lord  Rokeby 
and  Mr.  Littleton,  visited  Petra  in  1839,  is  a  still  more 
recent  eye-witness  of  the  predicted  desolation  which  has 
come  on  Edom  and  its  capital.  After  quoting  some  of 
these  prophecies,  he  adds,  "  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
desolation  of  its  present  condition,  although  the  signs  of 
its  former  wealth  and  power  are  so  durable  as  to  have 
remained  many  centuries  after  it  was  deserted,  and  they 
look  as  if  as  many  more  may  pass  over  them  without 
working  any  visible  change.  The  commencement  of  the 
prophecy  has  been  most  wonderfully  fulfilled ;  for  although 
it  was  beyond  the  foresight  of  man  to  imagine  that  so 
wealthy  and  powerful  a  city  should  be  deserted  and  deso- 
late, yet  all  human  works  and  habitations  are  subject  to 
a  like  fate ;  but  the  words,  *  1  will  make  thee  small  among 
the  heathen,'  have  been  actually  accomplished  to  such  a 
degree  that  the  very  site  of  Petra  has  for  centuries  been 
unknown.  That  a  great  city  should  be  thus  swept  from 
the  memory  of  man,  and  blotted  out,  for  a  long  season, 
from  the  knowledge  of  the  world,  is  a  most  striking  ma- 
nifestation of  the  truth  of  the  prophetic  record,  and  ut- 
terly exceeded  all  human  foresight  and  sagacity.  But 
every  step  in  this  country  exhibits  some  wonderful  fulfil- 
ment of  the  doom  which  was  pronounced  while  it  was 
flowing  with  riches  and  teeming  with  inhabitants ;  every 
specific  misfortune  has  overtaken  this  devoted  kingdom, 
and  yet  there  are  innumerable  remains  of  what  it  once 
was." 

A  few  extracts  from  Lord  Claud  Hamilton's  gra- 
phic description  of  Petra  will  be  interesting  to  the  rea- 
der : — 

1  Travels  of  Lord  Lindsay,  vol.  ii.  pp.  47,  48. 

2  Ibid.  p.  48.. 


IDUMEA.  201 

"  Following  a  path  which  wound  amongst  undulating 
hills  and  rocks,  we  gradually  found  ourselves  surrounded 
by  the  peculiar  remains  of  this  singular  locality.  On 
both  sides  were  curiously  shaped  tombs,  either  excavated 
from  the  living  rock,  with  fanciful  exteriors,  or  boldly 
cut  out  from  it,  and  standing  apart  in  square  masses  with 
ornamented  fagades,  and  surmounted  with  battlements, 
steps,  small  pyramidal  forms,  and  other  devices,  equally 
hewn  out  from  the  mountain.  Many  of  these  excava- 
tions may  have  been  intended  for  the  living,  as  they  con- 
tain several  apartments.  On  the  left  the  abrupt  cliffs  rise 
to  a  great  height,  and,  towering  over  the  undulated  site 
of  the  ancient  capital,  exhibit  on  their  pierced  sides  nu- 
merous marks  of  the  industry  and  pecuHar  taste  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Selah.  In  front  is  an  extensive  space,  par- 
tially covered  with  grass,  shrubs,  and  ruins,  and  inter- 
sected with  ravines,  in  which  it  is  evident  that  streams 
formerly  flowed ;  beyond,  some  lower  hills  form  the 
eastern  horizon,  whilst  to  the  right  another  lofty  range  of 
precipitous  hills  hem  in  the  valley,  and  present  a  con- 
tinued line  of  splendid  fagades,  and  noble  excavated 
temples  and  palaces,  which  at  once  strike  the  beholder 
as  the  most  extraordinary  sight  that  the  imagination  can 
conceive.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  singularity  of  the 
general  aspect,  nor  do  the  excavations  lose  any  of  their 
marvels  on  a  nearer  approach.  Having  passed  the  single 
column  of  which  Laborde  speaks,  and  also  the  square 
palace  and  triumphal  arch,  the  full  and  distinct  view  of 
the  wondrous  line  of  magnificent  excavations  burst  on 
my  sight.  It  is  impossible  by  any  description  to  convey 
an  idea  of  the  general  aspect  of  this  most  extraordinary 
place,  where  art  and  nature  seem  to  have  striven  for  the 
mastery,  and  each  has  contributed  to  render  it  alike  the 
most  wonderful  and  instructive  sight  that  can  possibly 
be  surveyed  by  man.  The  high  cliffs  of  the  northern 
boundary  present  to  view  an  endless  variety  of  excava- 
tions, dwellings,  tombs,  and  temples." 

The  theatre  of  Petra,  like  that  of  Ammon,  is  not  the 
least   remarkable   memorial   of   its    populousness    and 


202  IDUMEA. 

wealth,  constructed,  as  it  was,  for  the  simultaneous  and 
transient  assemblage  of  the  gayest  of  its  citizens,  and 
not,  though  both  be  equally  empty  now,  like  the  tombs, 
for  the  permanent  abode  of  the  successive  generations 
of  its  nobles.  As  measured  by  the  same  intelligent  and 
observant  traveller,  "  it  consist*  of  thirty-eight  rows  of 
high  steps  or  stone  benches,  of  which  the  uppermost  is 
152  paces  in  length."  And  how  different  now  is  a 
night-scene  there  from  what  it  was,  when  the  capital  of 
Edom,  deceived  by  its  terribleness,  and  fearless  of  dan- 
ger, was  given  to  its  pleasures,  and  the  shout  of  a  multi- 
tude was  heard  in  triumph  over  Israel.  With  other 
feelings  the  solitary  sojourner  of  a  day,  as  may  be  farther 
related  in  facts,  not  painted  in  fancy,  contemplates  the 
scene  of  desolated  grandeur  over  which  the  word  of  the 
Lord  is  triumphant. 

"  It  was  the  season  of  full  moon.  I  went  out  to  en- 
joy the  fine  effect  produced  by  the  shades  amongst 
these  high  cliffs,  and  to  contemplate  this  scene  of  depart- 
ed grandeur  in  the  stillness  of  night,  which  so  well 
accorded  with  its  desolate  appearance.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  beauty  of  the  evening.  The  clear  sky 
spangled  with  innumerable  bright  stars,  whilst  the  light 
which  rules  the  night  cast  its  fine  pale  beams  on  the 
many  temples,  palaces,  dwellings,  and  tombs  that  every 
cliff  and  rock  presented ;  their  numbers,  inexplicable 
situations,  and  apparent  want  of  arrangement  and  sys- 
tem, rendered  the  scene  indescribably  interesting.  I 
chose  the  theatre  as  one  point  of  observation.  There, 
alone,  surrounded  by  tenantless  cliffs,  I  tried  to  conjure 
up  some  of  the  many  scenes  which  had  been  enacted 
there,  when  the  rocks  resounded  with  the  applauses  of 
assembled  thousands,  and  this  deserted  spot  was  crowded 
with  the  noble,  the  great,  and  the  wealthy,  brilliant  with 
light,  and  gorgeous  from  the  dresses  of  the  spectators — 
the  power  and  glory  of  Edom  seemed  as  a  dream  which 
could  not  be  credited.  Turning  homewards  again,  the 
view  of  the  open  ground,  the  arch,  the  square  palace, 
and  Jie  cliff  beyond,  was  peculiarly  striking. 


IDUMEA.  203 

**  The  springs  have  been  dried  up  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  render  the  renewal  of  the  general  fertility  of  Edom 
impossible.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  theatre  of  Petra,  and 
in  other  places  along  the  course  of  the  stream,  reeds  and 
shrubs  grow  luxuriantly,  oleanders  and  wild  figs  abound, 
and  give  proof  that  a  little  cultivation  would  again  cover 
the  rock,  and  fill  the  cliflfs  with  the  numberless  gardens 
w^hich  once  adorned  them.  The  traces  of  former  fertility 
are  innumerable ;  and  it  is  likewise  evident,  that  every 
spot  capable  of  sustaining  vegetable  life  was  carefully 
watered  and  cultivated.  There  are  numerous  grooves 
in  the  rocks  to  convey  the  rain-water  to  tombs,  or  to  the 
Uttle  clefts  in  which  even  now  figs  are  found.  Every 
spot  capable  of  being  so  protected  has  been  walled  up, 
however  small  the  space  gained,  and  however  difficult 
the  means  of  securing  it.  The  ancient  inhabitants  seem 
to  have  left  no  accessible  place  untouched.  They  have 
exhibited  equal  art  and  industry  in  eliciting  from  the 
grand  walls  of  their  marvellous  capital  whatever  the 
combination  of  cHmate,  irrigation,  and  botanical  skill 
could  foster  in  the  scanty  soil  that  was  afforded  them. 
The  hanging  gardens  must  have  produced  an  enchanting 
effect  amongst  the  noble  buildings  of  the  town  when  it 
was  in  all  its  glory.  "^ 

Edom  has  been  rendered  most  desolate  ;  and  its  gene- 
ral desolation  is  seen  to  be  irreclaimable.  Patches 
covered  with  wild  flowers,  growing  in  rich  luxuriance, 
and  some  cultivated  spots  in  the  bottom  of  the  valleys, 
may  serve  as  a  token  of  what  Idumea  was.  But 
although  destined  to  be  the  scene  of  judgments  which 
yet  await  it,  a  remnant  is  all  that  is  left  of  Edom.  And 
it  is  written,  "  In  that  day  I  will  raise  up  the  tabernacle 
of  David  that  is  fallen,  and  close  up  the  breaches  there- 
of; and  I  will  raise  up  his  ruins,  and  I  will  build  it  as 
in  the  days  of  old :  that  they  may  possess  the  remnant 
of  Edom,^^  &c. — But  judgments  on  Mount  Seir  have 
yet  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  Israel, — "  I 
will  make  myself  known  among  them  when  I  have 
'  Loid  Claud  Hamilton's  Journal. 


204  IPUMEA. 

judged  thee." — "When  the  whole  earth  rejoiceth,  1 
will  make  thee  desolate."^ 

They  shall  he  called  the  border  of  vrickedness.  Strabo 
contrasts  the  quiet  disposition  of  the  citizens  of  Petra 
with  the  contentious  spirit  of  the  foreigners  who  resided 
there;  and  the  uninterrupted  tranquillity  which  the 
townsmen  mutually  maintained  together,  excited  the 
admiration  of  Athenodorus."  The  fine  gold  is  changed  : 
no  such  people  are  there  now  to  be  found.  Though 
Burckhardt  travelled  as  an  Arab,  associated  with  them, 
submitted  to  all  their  privations,  and  was  so  completely 
master  of  their  language  and  of  their  manners  as  to 
escape  detection,  he  was  yet  reduced  to  that  state  within 
the  boundaries  of  Edom,  which  alone  can  secure  tran- 
quillity to  the  traveller  in  the  desert ;  "  he  had  nothing 
with  him  that  could  attract  the  notice,  or  excite  the  cu- 
pidity of  the  Bedouins,"  and  was  even  stripped  of  some 
rags  that  covered  his  wounded  ankles.^  The  Arabs  in 
that  quarter,  he  observes,  "  have  the  reputation  of  being 
very  daring  thieves."  In  like  manner  a  Motselim  who 
had  been  twenty  years  in  office,  pledged  himself  to  Cap- 
tains Irby  and  Mangles,  and  the  travellers  who  accompa- 
nied them,  (in  presence  of  the  governor  of  Jerusalem,) 
that  the  Arabs  of  Wady  Mousa  are  "a  most  savage  and 
treacherous  race,"  and  added,  that  they  would  make  use 
of  their  Frank's  blood  for  a  medicine.  That  this  charac- 
ter of  wickedness  and  cruelty  was  not  misapplied,  they 
had  too  ample  proof,  not  only  in  the  dangers  with  which 
they  were  threatened,  but  by  the  fact  which  they  learned 
on  the  spot,  that  upwards  of  thirty  pilgrims  from  Barbary 
had  been  murdered  at  Petra  the  preceding  year,  by  the 
men  of  Wady  Mousa.*  Even  the  Arabs  of  the  surround- 
ing deserts,  as  already  stated,  dread  to  approach  it ;  and 
towards  the  borders  of  Edom  on  the  south,  "  the  Arabs 
about  Akaba,"  as  described  by  Pococke,  and  as  expe- 

>  Amos  ix.  11,  12;  Ezek.  xxxv.  11, 14. 

2  Strabo,  p.  779.  ^  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  438. 

4  Irby  and  Mangles's  Travels,  p.  417;  Macmichael's  Journey, 
pp.  202,  234. 


IDUMEA. 


206 


rienced  by  Burckhardt,  "  are  a  very  bad  people,  and 
notorious  robbers,  and  are  at  war  with  all  others."* 
Such  evidence,  all  undesignedly  given,  clearly  shows 
that  in  truth  Edom  is  called  the  border  of  wickedness. 

Thorns  shall  come  up  in  her  palaces^  nettles  and  bram- 
bles in  the  fortresses  thereof  In  lieu  of  any  direct  and 
explicit  statement  in  corroboration  of  the  literal  fulfil- 
ment of  this  prediction,  it  may  be  worthy  of  observation, 
that  the  camels  of  the  Bedouins  feed  upon  the  thorny 
branches  of  the  Talh  (gum  arabic)  tree,  of  which  they 
are  extremely  fond ;  that  the  large  thorns  of  these  trees 
are  a  great  annoyance  to  them,  and  to  their  cattle :  and 
that  they  are  so  abundant  in  different  parts  of  Idumea, 
that  each  Bedouin  carries  in  his  girdle  a  pair  of  small 
pincers  to  extract  the  thorns  from  his  feet.^  Direct  evi- 
dence may  now  be  adduced  (13th  edit.)  from  the  last  pub- 
lished livraisons  of  M.  Laborde.  In  describing  the  exist- 
ing state  of  Petra,  he  states,  that  the  thorns  rise  to  the  same 
height  with  the  columns ;  creeping  and"  prickly  plants 
hide  the  remains  of  the  works  of  man  ;  the  thorn,  or 
bramble,  reaches  the  top  of  the  monuments,  grows  on 
their  cornices,  and  conceals  the  base  of  the  columns. 

But  the  precise  fact  has  still  more  recently  (23d  edit.) 
been  ascertained  or  confirmed,  after  a  special  examination 
on  the  spot,  and  with  a  direct  reference  to  the  prediction. 

"  A  square  palace,  near  to  the  triumphal  arch,  is  the 
only  edifice  of  masonry  standing.  I  entered  it,"  writes 
Lord  Claud  Hamilton,  "  and  examined  the  interior. 
The  wooden  joists  still  remain  in  the  walls,  apparently 
strong  and  sound.  The  usual  arrangement  of  chambers 
exists,  but  only  the  lofty  walls  and  partitions  remain. 
The  ground  is  strewed  with  fragments  of  the  roof,  hewn 
stone,  and  portions  of  the  cornice,  amongst  which  num- 
bers of  thistles,  prickly  plants,  and  nettles  grow.  At  first, 
I  was  not  certain  about  the  nettles  ;  but  wishing  to  ascer- 
tain their  identity,  I  put  my  hand  to  them,  and  thought 
they  had  not  the  force  of  English  nettles,  yet  they  gave 

'  Pococke's  Description  of  the  East,  vol.  i.  p.  136. 
2  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  446. 
18 


206  IDUMEA. 

a  pungent  feeling,  which,  if  the  plant  were  stronger, 
would  amount  to  a  sting.  They  had  exactly  the  leaf; 
but  it  was  late  in  the  season,  so  that  want  of  moisture 
had  probably  weakened  them."  Thus  there  were  nettles 
in  the  only  palace  that  the  proud  city  of  Petra  contains 
ertect.  ^  Thorns  come  up  in  her  palaces,  nettles  and  brambles 
in  the  fortresses  thereof. 

I  will  make  thee  small  among  tJie  nations,  thou  art 
greatly  despised.  Though  the  border  of  wickedness,  and 
the  retreat  of  a  horde  of  thieves,  who  are  distinguished 
as  peculiarly  savage  even  among  the  wild  Arabs,  and 
thus  an  object  of  dread  as  well  as  of  astonishment  to 
those  who  pass  thereby,  yet,  contrasted  with  what  it  was, 
or  reckoned  among  the  nations,  Edom  is  small  indeed. 
Within  almost  all  its  boundary,  it  may  be  said  that  none 
abide,  or  have  any  fixed  or  permanent  residence ;  and 
instead  of  the  superb  structures,  the  works  of  various 
ages,  which  long  adorned  its  cities,  the  huts  of  the  Arabs, 
where  even  huts  they  have,  are  mere  mud  hovels  of 
"  mean  and  ragged  appearance,"  which,  in  general,  are 
deserted  on  the  least  alarm.  But  miserable  habitations 
as  these  are,  they  scarcely  seem  to  exist  anywhere 
throughout  Edom,  but  on  a  single  point  on  its  borders ; 
and  wherever  the  Arabs  otherwise  wander  in  search  of 
spots  for  pasturage  for  their  cattle,  (found  in  hollows,  or 
near  to  springs  after  the  winter  rains,)  tents  are  their  only 
covering.  '  Those  which  pertain  to  the  more  powerful 
tribes,  are  sometimes  both  numerous  and  large  ;  yet, 
though  they  form  at  best  but  a  frail  dwelling,  many  of 
them  are  "  very  low  and  small."  Near  to  the  ruins  of 
Petra,  Burckhardt  passed  an  encampment  of  Bedouin 
tents,  most  of  which  were  "  the  smallest  he  had  ever 
seen,  about  four  feet  high,  and  ten  in  length ;"  and  to- 
wards the  southwest  border  of  Edom,  he  met  with  a  few 
wanderers  who  had  no  tents  with  them,  and  whose  only 
shelter  from  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun,  and  the  heavy 
dews  of  night,  was  the  scanty  branches  of  the  Talh  trees. 
The  subsistence  of  the  Bedouins  is  often  as  precEirious 
as  their  habitations  are  mean  ;  the  flocks  they  tend,  oi 


IDUMEA.  207 

which  they  pillage  from  more  fertile  regions,  are  their 
only  possessions ;  and  in  that  land  where  commerce  long 
concentrated  its  wealth,  and  through  which  the  treasures 
of  Ophir  passed,  the  picking  of  gum  arabic  from  thorny 
branches  is  now  the  poor  occupation,  the  semblance  of 
industry  practised  by  the  wild  and  wandering  tenants  of 
a  desert.  Edom  is  small  among  the  nations  ;  and  how 
greatly  is  it  despised,  when  the  public  authorities  at  Con- 
stantinople deny  any  knowledge  of  it,  or  of  the  ruins  of 
its  capital ;  when  the  city  of  Petra  is  thus  forgotten  and 
unknown  among  the  representatives  of  the  villagers  of 
Byzantium ! 

Concerning  Edom,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  Is  wisdom  no 
more  in  Teman9  is  understanding  perished  from  the  pru- 
dent ?  Shall  I  not  destroy  the  wise  men  out  of  Edom, 
and  understanding  out  of  the  mount  of  Esau  ?  Fallen 
and  despised  as  it  now  is,  Edom — did  not  the  pre- 
scription of  many  ages  abrogate  its  right — might  lay 
claim  to  the  title  of  having  been  the  first  seat  of  learning, 
as  well  as  the  centre  of  commerce.  While  splendid 
remains  of  ancient  art  give  undoubted  proof  that  wisdom 
and  understanding  subsisted  in  the  mount  of  Esau  after 
the  age  of  the  prophets,  the  first  of  modern  philosophers 
thus  speaks  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Edomites  in  the  earliest 
ages.  "  The  Egyptians  having  learned  the  sJdll  of  the 
Edomites,  began  now  to  observe  the  position  of  the  stars, 
and  the  length  of  the  solar  year,  for  enabling  them  to 
know  the  position  of  the  stars  at  any  time,  and  to  sail  by 
them  at  all  times  without  sight  of  the  shore ;  and  thus 
gave  a  beginning  to  astronomy  and  navigation."^  "It 
seems  that  letters,  and  astronomy,  and  the  trade  of  car- 
penters, were  invented  by  the  merchants  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  that  they  were  propagated  from  Arabia  Petraea  into 
Egypt,  Chaldea,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  and  Europe."^ 
While  the  philosopher  may  thus  think  of  Edom  with  re- 
spect, neither  the  admirer  of  genius,  the  man  of  feeling, 
nor  the  child  of  devotion  will,  even  to  this  day,  seek 

'  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Chronology  of  Ancient  Kingdoms,  p.  208 
2  Ibid.  p.  312. 


208  IDUMEA. 

from  any  Igind  a  richer  treasure  of  plaintive  poetry,  of 
impassioned  eloquence,  and  of  fervid  piety,  than  Edom 
has  bequeathed  to  the  world  in  the  book  of  Job.  It 
exhibits  to  us,  in  language  the  most  pathetic  and  sublime, 
all  that  a  man  could  feel,  in  the  outward  pangs  of  his 
body,  and  the  inner  writhings  of  his  mind,  of  the  frailties 
of  his  frame,  and  of  the  dissolution  of  his  earthly  com- 
forts and  endearments :  all  that  mortal  can  discern,  by 
meditating  on  the  ways,  and  contemplating  the  works  of 
God,  of  the  omniscience  and  omnipotence  of  the  Most 
High,  and  of  the  inscrutable  dispensations  of  his  provi- 
dence: all  that  knowledge  which  could  first  tell,  in 
written  word,  of  Arcturus,  and  Orion,  and  Pleiades ; 
and  all  that  devotedness  of  soul,  and  immortality  of  hope, 
which — with  patience  that  faltered  not  even  when  the 
heart  was  bruised,  and  almost  broken,  and  the  body  co- 
vered over  with  distress — could  say,  "  Though  he  slay 
me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him." 

But  if  the  question  now  be  asked,  is  understanding 
perished  out  of  Edom  ?  the  answer,  like  every  response 
of  the  prophetic  word,  may  be  briefly  given :  it  is.  The 
minds  of  the  Bedouins  are  as  uncultivated  as  the  deserts 
they  traverse.  Practical  wisdom  is,  in  general,  the  first 
that  man  learns,  and  the  last  that  he  retains.  And  the 
simple  but  significant  fact  already  alluded  to,  that  the 
clearing  away  of  a  little  rubbish,  merely  "  to  allow  the 
water  to  flow"  into  an  ancient  cistern,  in  order  to  render 
it  useful  to  themselves,  "  is  an  undertaking  far  beyond 
the  views  of  the  wandering  Arabs,"  shows  that  under- 
standing is  indeed  perished  from  among  them.  They 
view  the  indestructible  works  of  former  ages  not  only 
with  wonder,  but  with  superstitious  regard,  and  con- 
sider them  as  the  work  of  genii.  They  look  upon  a 
European  as  a  magician,  and  believe  that,  having  seen 
any  spot  where  they  imagine  that  treasures  are  deposited, 
he  can  "  afterwards  command  the  guardian  of  the  trea- 
sure to  set  the  whole  before  him."*  In  Teman,  which 
yet  maintains  a  precarious  existence,  the  inhabitants  pos- 
'  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  439. 


IDUMEA.  ^  209 

sess  the  desire  without  the  means  of  knowledge.  The 
Koran  is  their  only  study,  and  contains  the  sum  of  their 
wisdom ;  and  although  he  was  but  a  "  miserable  com- 
forter," and  was  overmastered  in  argument  by  a  kins- 
man stricken  with  affliction,  yet  no  Temanite  can  now 
discourse  with  either  the  wisdom  or  the  pathos  of  Elir 
phaz  of  old.  Wisdom  is  no  more  in  Teman,  and  under- 
standing has  perished  out  of  tlie  mount  of  Esau. 

While  there  is  thus  subsisting  evidence  and  proof  that 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Edom  were  renowned  for  wis- 
dom as  well  as  for  power,  and  while  desolation  has 
spread  so  widely  over  it,  that  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  inhabited  by  man ;  there  still  are  tenants  who  hold 
possession  of  it,  to  whom  it  is  abandoned  by  man,  and 
to  whom  it  was  decreed  by  a  voice  more  than  mortal. 

"  But  the  cormorant  and  the  bittern  shall  possess  it 
(Idumea;)  the  owl  also,  and  the  raven,  shall  dwell  in  it. 
It  shall  be  an  habitation  for  dragons  and  a  court  for 
owls.  The  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  also  meet  with 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  island,  and  the  satyr  (the  hairy  or 
rough  creature)  shall  cry  to  his  fellow ;  the  screech-owl 
also  shall  rest  there,  and  find  for  herself  a  place  of  rest. 
There  shall  the  great  owl  make  her  nest,  and  lay,  and 
hatch,  and  gather  under  her  shadow;  there  shall  the 
vultures  also  be  gathered,  every  one  with  her  mate. 
Seek  ye  out  of  the  book  of  the  Lord  and  read ;  no  one 
of  these  shall  fail,  none  shall  w^ant  her  mate ;  for  my 
mouth  it  hath  commanded,  and  his  spirit  it  hath  gathered 
them.  And  he  hath  cast  the  lot  for  them,  and  his  hand 
hath  divided  it  unto  them  by  line ;  they  shall  possess  it 
for  ever ;  from  generation  to  generation  shall  they  dwell 
therein."^ 

Such  is  the  precision  of  the  prophecies,  so  remote  are 
they  from  all  ambiguity  of  meaning,  and  so  distinct  are 
the  events  which  they  detail,  that  it  is  almost  unneces- 
sary to  remark  that  the  different  animals  here  enumerated 
were  not  all  in  the  same  manner,  or  in  the  same  degree, 
to  be  possessors  of  Edom.  Some  of  them  were  to  rest, 
'  Isa.  xxxiv.  11,  13—17. 

18* 


Sid  IDUMEA. 

to  meet,  to  be  gathered  there ;  the  owl  and  the  raven 
were  to  dwell  in  it,  and  it  was  to  be  a  habitation  for 
dragons ;  while  of  the  cormorant  and  bittern,  it  is  em- 
phatically said,  that  they  were  to  possess  it.  And  is  it 
not  somewhat  beyond  a  mere  fortuitous  coincidence,  im- 
perfect as  the  information  is  f^specting  Edom,  that,  in 
"  seeliing  out"  proof  concerning  these  animals,  and 
whether  none  of  them  do  fail,  the  most  decisive  evi- 
dence should,  in  the  first  instance,  be  unconsciously 
communicated  from  the  boundaries  of  Edom,  of  the  one 
which  is  first  noted  in  the  prediction,  and  which  was  to 
possess  the  land?  It  will  at  once  be  conceded,  that 
in  whatever  country  any  particular  animal  is  unknown, 
no  proper  translation  of  its  name  can  -there  be  given ; 
and  that  for  the  purpose  of  designating  or  identifying  it, 
reference  must  be  had  to  the  original  name,  and  to  the 
natural  history  of  the  country  in  which  it  is  known. 
And,  without  any  ambiguity  or  perplexity  arising  from 
the  translation  of  the  word,  or  any  need  of  tracing  it 
through  any  other  languages  to  ascertain  its  import,  the 
identical  word  of  the  original,  with  scarcely  the  slightest 
variation,  (and  that  only  the  want  of  the  final  vowel  in 
the  Hebrew  word,  vowels  in  that  language  being  often 
supplied  in  the  enunciation  or  by  points,)  is,  from  the 
affinity  of  the  Hebrew  and  Arabic,  used  on  the  very  spot 
by  the  Arabs,  to  denote  the  very  bird  which  may  literally 
be  said  to  possess  the  land.  While  in  the  last  inhabited 
village  of  Moab,  and  close  upon  the  borders  of  Edom, 
Burckhardt  noted  the  animals  which  frequented  the 
neighbouring  territory,  in  which  he  distinctly  specifies 
Shera,  the  land  of  the  Edomites ;  and  he  relates  that  "  the 
bird  katta*  is  met  with  in  immense  numbers.  They  fly 
in  such  large  flocks  that  the  Arab  boys  often  kill  two  or 
three  of  them  at  a  time,  merely  by  throwing  a  stick 
^mong  them."^  If  any  objector  be  here  inclined 
o  say,  that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  any  par- 

•  riNp  kath,  a  species  of  partridge.    It  is  sometimes  written  in 
:he  original,  katha.     Onkel,  Nnp,  vide  Simonis  Lexicon,  p.  1393. 
2  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria,  p.  406. 


IDUMEA.  211 

ticular  bird  should  be  found  in  any  given  country, 
that  it  might  continue  to  remain  for  a  term  of  ages,  and 
that  such  a  surmise  would  not  exceed  the  natural  proba- 
bilities of  the  case ;  the  fact  may  be  freely  admitted  as 
applicable,  perhaps,  to  most  countries  of  the  globe.  But 
who  ever,  elsewhere,  saw  any  wild  bird  in  any  country 
in  flocks  so  immensely  numerous  that  two  or  three  of 
them  could  be  killed  by  the  single  throw  of  a  stick  from 
the  hand  of  a  boy ;  and  that  this  could  be  stated,  not  as 
a  forcible  and  perhaps  false  illustration  to  denote  their 
number,  nor  as  a  wonderful  chance  or  unusual  incident, 
but  as  a  fact  of  frequent  occurrence  ?  Who  ever,  else- 
where, heard  of  such  a  fact,  not  as  happening  merely  on 
a  sea-rock,  the  resort  of  myriads  of  birds,  or  their  tem- 
porary resting-place  when  exhausted  in  their  flight,  but 
in  an  extensive  country,  their  permanent  abode  ?  Or  if, 
among  the  manifold  discoveries  of  travellers  in  modern 
times,  it  were  really  related  that  such  occupants  of  a 
country  are  to  be  found,  or  that  a  corresponding  fact 
exists  in  any  other  region  of  the  earth  which  was  once 
tenanted  by  man,  who  can  also  "find"  in  the  records 
of  a  high  antiquity  the  prediction  that  declared  it  ?  Of 
what  country  now  inhabited  could  the  same  fact  be  now 
with  certainty  foretold  ?  and  where  is  the  seer  who  can 
discern  the  vision,  fix  on  the  spot  over  the  world's  sur- 
face, and  select,  from  the  whole  winged  tribe,  the  name 
of  the  first  in  order,  and  the  greatest  in  number,  of  the 
future  and  chief  possessors  of  the  land  ? 

Of  the  bittern  (kephud)  as  a  joint  possessor  with  the 
katta  of  Idumea,  evidence  has  not  been  given  or  ascer- 
tained : — but  numerous  as  the  facts  have  been  which 
modern  discoveries  have  consigned  over  to  the  service 
of  revelation,  that  word  of  truth  which  fears  no  investi- 
gation can  appeal  to  other  facts,  unknown  to  history,  and 
still  undiscovered,  but  registered  in  prophecy,  and  thert 
long  since  revealed.* 

*  Of  the  different  animals,  respecting  which  it  is  said,  in  tho 
judfjments  denounced  against  Idumea,  "No  one  of  these  shall 
fail,"  the  first  in  order  are  the  riNp  kath  and  iMip  kqihud,  or,  as  read 


212  IDUMEA. 

The  owl  also,  and  the  raven,  (or  crow,)  shall  dwell  in 
it.     The  owl  and  raven  do  dwell  in  it.     Captain  Man- 

wilh  thB  points,  kippod,  translated  in  our  yersion,  the  cormorant 
and  the  bittern.  It  has  long  been  my  opinion,  as  intimated  in 
previous  editions,  that  -wop  is  the  hedgehog  or  the  porcupine, 
ai  stated  by  Bochart,  who  calls*  the  one  a  species  of  the 
other.  And  as,  from  the  similarity  of  the  Hebrew  and  Ara- 
bic names,  the  kath  may  be  identified  with  the  kattay  so  also 
may  the  kephud  with  kunfud,  the  Arabic  name  of  the  hedgehog 
or  porcupine.  In  Bochart's  (Bocharti  Opera,  tom.  iii.  p.  1035— 
1038,  cap.  xxxvi.)  learned  investigation  or  treatise  on  the  name, 
he  states  that  the  word  kunphud  includes  both,  as  is  clear  from 
Avicenna,  who  mentions  the  porcupine  as  one  of  the  species.  In 
Damir,  whom  he  also  quotes,  the  female  hedgehog  is  called  the 
mother  of  the  porcupine,  and  the  porcupine  is  called  the  large 
hedgehog.  The  Sepluagint  and  Vulgate  translate  the  word  t^^'^t 
and  ericius  the  hedgehog.  That  the  kunphud  is  the  hedgehog,  no 
one,  says  Bochart,  will  deny  who  will  read  Damir,  where  kmiphud 
is  named  abussuchi,  the  father  of  spines  ;  and  ankado,  i.  e.  a  decorti- 
cator,  or  peeler;  and  alasaiso,  because  it  wanders  in  the  night; 
hence  the  proverb  among  the  Arabs, — a  greater  night  wanderer 
than  the  kunphud.  That  the  kippod  (or  kephud)  of  the  Hebrews, 
— the  kuphad  of  the  Chaldeans, — and  the  kunphud  of  the  Arabs, 
says  Bochart,  are  the  same  animal,  will  be  acknowledged  by  every 
one  who  has  any  knowledge  of  this  language.  Lowth  calls  it  the 
porcupine.  Gesenius  and  Parkhurst  translate  the  word,  the 
hedgehog. 

Being  persuaded  that  such  was  the  significancy  of  the  word, 
on  passing  within  two  days'  journey  of  Petra,  accompanied  by  an 
Arab  guide  who  had  repeatedly  visited  it,  I  made  special  inquiry, 
wherever  opportunity  offered,  in  passing  through  the  desert,  and 
at  Jerusalem  and  Hebron,  whether  hedgehogs  or  porcupines  are 
to  be  found  in  Idumea.  Different  Arabs  who  were  questioned 
concerning  it,  knew  the  kunphud  well.  The  guide  described  it  as 
an  animal  with  four  feet,  and  a  small  head,  which  creeps  into 
holes  among  the  ruins,  and  is  covered  with  very  strong  hair.  Ac- 
cording to  his  account,  they  abound  in  Wady  Mousa;  but  are  not 
to  be  seen  in  the  day-time,  as  they  come  forth  only  at  night,  and 
thus  they  may  have  been  unnoticed  by  travellers.  He  said  that 
some  of  them,  carried  from  Wady  Mousa,  would  likely  be  found 
in  Hebron.  On  inquiry  at  that  town,  I  was  informed  that  the 
Arabs  caught  them  among  the  ruins  of  Wady  Mousa,  by  putting 
cloaks  over  their  holes  during  night,  and  catching  them  on  their 
return  ;  and  that  the  reason  why  they  caught  and  carried  them  to 
Hebron  was,  that  their  blood  was  accounted  a  cure  for  sore  eyes. 
There  being  none  of  them  at  that  time  in  Hebron,  M.  Elias,  a 
Greek  Christian,  offered  to  send  to  Petra  for  some  of  them,  and  to 
forward  them  for  me  to  Jerusalem.    But  the  evidence  of  their 


IDUMEA.  213 

gles  relates,  that  while  he  and  his  fellow-travellers  were 
examining  the  ruins  and  contemplating  the  sublime 
scenery  of  Petra,  "  the  screaming  of  the  eagles,  hawks, 
and  owls,  who  were  soaring  above  their  heads  in  con- 
siderable numbers,  seemingly  annoyed  at  any  one  ap- 
proaching their  lonely  habitation,  added  much  to  the 
singularity  of  the  scene."  "  The'  fields  of  Tafyle," 
situated  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Edom,  are,  accord- 
ing to  the  observations  of  Burckhardt,  "frequented  by 
an  immense  number  of  crows."*  "  I  expected,"  says 
Seetzen,  (alluding  to  his  purposed  tour  through  Idumea, 
and  to  the  information  he  had  received  from  the  Arabs,) 
"  to  make  several  discoveries  in  mineralogy,  as  well  as 
in  the  animals  and  vegetables  of  the  country,  on  the 
manna  of  the  desert,  the  ravens,"^  &c. 

It  shall  he  a  habitation  for  dragons  {serpents.)  I  laid 
his  heritage  waste  for  the  dragons  of  the  wilderness. 
The  evidence,  though  derived  from  testimony,  and  not 
from  personal  observation,  of  two  travellers  of  so  con- 
trary characters  and  views  as  Shaw  and  Volney,  is  so 
accordant  and  apposite,  that  it  may  well  be  sustained  in 
lieu  of  more  direct  proof.  The  former  represents  the 
land  of  Edom,  and  the  wilderness  of  which  it  now 
forms  part,  as  abounding  with  a  variety  of  lizards  and 
vipers  which  are  very  dangerous  and  troublesome.^ 
And  the  narrative  given  by  Volney,  already  quoted,  is 
equally  decisive  as  to  the  fact.  The  Arabs,  in  general, 
avoid  the  ruins  of  the  cities  of  Idumea,  "  on  account 

being  actually  taken  in  Edom  would  have  rested  merely  on  the 
testimony  of  the  Arab  bearer,  and  would  scarcely  have  been 
satisfactory.  An  English  traveller  stated  that  he  saw  a  dead  por- 
cupine in  a  valley  near  to  Petra.  Though  not  amounting  to  a  full 
elucidation,  as  required  in  the  text,  these  circumstances,  to  which 
others  might  be  added,  are  worthy  of  notice,  as  they  may  lead  to 
farther  inquiry,  and  complete  the  proof,  that  the  kephud,  like  the 
katta,  with  its  almost  unchanged  name,  possesses  Edom,  and  has  its 
habitation  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  of  Petra,  and  that  no  one  of 
these  do  fail. 

'  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  405. 

2  Seetzen's  Travels,  p.  46. 

3  Shaw's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  105,  338. 


214  IDUMEA. 

of  tJie  enormous  scorpions  with  which  they  swarms  Its 
cities  thus  deserted  by  man,  and  abandoned  to  their  un- 
disturbed and  hereditary  possession,  Edom  may  be  justly 
called  the  inheritance  of  dragons. 

The  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  also  meet  vnth  the 
wild:  beasts  of  the  island,  (or  -the  borders  of  the  sea.) 
Instead  of  these  words  of  the  English  version,  Parkhurst 
renders  the  former  the  ravenous  birds  inhabiting  the  toil- 
derness.  The  interpretation  was  given  long  before  the 
fact  to  which  it  refers  was  made  known.  But  it  has 
now  been  ascertained  (and  without  any  allusion,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  the  prediction)  that  eagles,*  hawks,  and 
ravens,  all  ravenous  birds,  are  common  in  Edom,  and 
do  not  fail  to  illustrate  the  prediction  as  thus  translated. 
But  when  animals  from  different  regions  are  said  to  meet, 
the  prophecy  thus  implying  that  some  of  them  at  least 
did  not  properly  pertain  to  the  country,  would  seem  to 
require  some  further  verification.  And  of  all  the  won- 
derful circumstances  attached  to  the  history,  or  pertaining 
to  the  fate  of  Edom,  there  is  one  which  is  not  to  be 
ranked  among  the  least  in  singularity,  that  bears  no  remote 
application  to  the  prefixed  prophecy,  and  that  ought  not, 
perhaps,  to  pass  here  unnoted.  It  is  recorded  in  an 
ancient  chronicle,  that  the  emperor  Decius  caused  fierce 
lions  and  lionesses  to  be  transported  from  [the  deserts 
of]  Africa  to  the  borders  of  Palestine  and  Arabia,  in 
order  that,  propagating  there,  they  might  act  as  an  annoy- 
ance and  a  barrier  to  the  barbarous  Saracens.^  Between 
Arabia  and  Palestine  Jies  the  doomed  and  execrated  land 
of  Edom.  And  may  it  not  thus  be  added,  that  a  cause 
so  unnatural  and  unforeseen  would  greatly  tend  to  the 
destruction  of  the  flocks,  and  to  the  desolation  of  all  the 
adjoining  territory,  and  seem  to  be  as  if  the  king  of  the 
forest  was  to  take  possession  of  it  for  his  subjects  ?  And 
may  it  not  be  even  literally  said,  that  the  wild  beasts  of 

'  Burckhardt's  Travels,  p.  405. 

2  'O  avToc  AuKio?  /ict<nKivg  n-ya.y&  oltto  th;  Ajigtiuii  xtovrm  ^o^t^ov^  KU.t  XiAtvcttf 
K-u  oLTO^ua-ty  Mf  TO  Xi/uurov  AVstrohHf  etTTo  A^d/S/Af  X4U  riaiXit/irT/vxf  jaf  tov  K/g- 
jaa-icy  Kato-rgiu,  wgoj  to  TroMirau  ytvetv  Ski  touc  fitt^^apovi  lagtiKmovi.  (Chro- 
nicon  Alexandrinum,  ad  an.  C.  358.    Relandi  Palaesiina,  p.  97.) 


IDUMEA.  215 

the  desert  meet  there  with  the  wild  beasts  of  the  borders 
of  the  sea  9 

The  satyr  shall  dwell  there.  The  satyr  is  entirely  a 
fabulous  animal.  The  word  (soir)  literally  means  a 
rough  hairy  one :  and,  like  a  synonymous  word  in  both 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  which  has  the  same  sig- 
nification, has  been  translated  both  by  lexicographers 
and  commentators,  the  goat.^  Parkhurst  says,  that,  in 
this  sense,  he  would  understand  this  very  passage :  and 
Lowth  distinctly  asserts,  without  assigning  to  it  any 
other  meaning,  that  "  the  word  originally  signifies  ^o«^."^ 
Such  respectable  and  well-known  authorities  have  been 
cited,  because  their  decision  must  have  rested  on  criti- 
cism alone,  as  it  was  impossible  that  their  minds  could 
have  been  biassed  by  any  knowledge  of  the  fact  in 
reference  to  Edom.  It  was  their  province,  and  that  of 
others,  to  illustrate  its  meaning:  it  was  Burckhardt's, 
however  unconsciously,  to  bear,  from  ocular  observation, 
witness  to  its  truth.  "  In  all  the  Wadys  south  of  the 
Modjel  and  El  Asha,  (pointing  to  Edom,)  "  large  herds 
of  mountain-goats  are  met  with.  They  pasture  in 
flocks  of  forty  and  fifty  together."^     They  dwell  there. 

It  shall  be  a  court  for  owls.  The  screech-owl  also 
shall  rest  there^  and  find  for  herself  a  place  of  rest. 
There  shall  the  great  owl  make  her  nest,  and  lay,  and 
hatch,  and  gatJier  under  her  shadow :  tJiere  shall  the  vul- 
tures also  be  gathered,  every  one  with  her  mate.  JYo  one 
of  these  shall  fail,  none  shall  want  her  mate.  While,  as 
already  quoted,  the  screaming  of  the  eagles,  hawks,  and 
owls,  which  in  considerable  numbers  soared  above  their 
heads,  was  heard  in  the  day-time  by  one  party  of  travel- 
lers, others  (M.  Laborde,  &c.)  who  more  lately  followed 

'  "  So  the  Greek  T§'-t>^c,  a  he-goat,  is  from  t^^xjuc,  rough,  on  ac- 
count of  the  roughness  of  his  hair,  and  the  Latin  hircus,  a  he-goat, 
for  hirtus,  rough."     (Parkhurst's  Lexicon.) 

2  Lowth  assigns  the  reason  why  the  word  is  translated  satyr;  it 
is  supposed  that  evil  spirits  of  old  time  appeared  in  the  shape  of 
goats,  as  the  learned  Bochart  has  proved.     (Isa.  xiii.  21.) 

3  Burckhardt's  Travels  in  Syria. 


216  IDUMEA. 

them  and  remained  longer  on  the  spot,  relate  in  a  like  in- 
cidental manner,  that  at  night  the  screech-owl  was  heard 
above  the  rest.  There  she  rests,  and  finds  for  herself  a 
place  of  rest.  And  as  each  or  any  of  these  is  known  to 
man,  and  can  be  distinguished  even  at  night,  or  when 
unseen,  by  its  peculiar  scream ;  so,  now  that  the  cry 
of  a  wild  beast,  or  the  sound  of  a  reptile,  or  the  scream- 
ing of  a  bird  of  prey,  are  the  only  forms  or  signs  of 
recognition  among  the  tenants  of  the  capital  of  Edom, 
it  is  thus  that  tJiey  are  gathered  together,  every  one  vnth 
her  mate. 

But  the  evidence  respecting  all  the  animals  specified 
in  the  prophecy,  as  the  future  possessors  of  Edom,  is  not 
yet  complete,  and  is  difficult  to  be  ascertained.  And, 
in  words  that  seem  to  indicate  this  very  difficulty,  it  is 
still  reserved  for  future  travellers  to  disclose  the  facts ; 
and  for  future  inquirers,  whether  Christian  or  infidel,  to 
seek  out  of  the  book  of  the  Lord  and  read  ;  and  to  "  find 
that  no  one  of  these  do  fail."  Yet,  recent  as  the  disclo- 
sure of  any  information  respecting  them  has  been,  and 
offered,  as  it  now  for  the  first  time  is,  for  the  considera- 
tion of  every  candid  mind,  the  positive  terms  and  single- 
ness of  object  of  the  prophecies  themselves,  and  the 
undesigned  and  decisive  evidence,  are  surely  enough  to 
show  how  greatly  these  several  specific  predictions  and 
their  respective  facts  exceed  all  possibility  of  their  being 
the  word  or  the  work  of  man,  and  how  clearly  there  may 
be  discovered  in  them  all,  if  sight  itself  be  conviction, 
the  credential  of  inspiration,  and  the  operation  of  His 
hands,  to  whose  prescience  futurity  is  open ;  to  whose 
power  all  nature  is  subservient ;  and  "  whose  mouth 
it  hath  commanded,  and  whose  spirit  it  hath  gathered 
them." 

Noted  as  Edom  was  for  its  terribleness,  and  possessed 
of  a  capital  city,  from  which  even  a  feeble  people  could 
not  easily  have  been  dislodged,  there  scarcely  could  have 
been  a  question,  even  among  its  enemies,  to  what  jaeop/g 
that  country  would  eventually  belong.  And  it  never 
could  have  been  thought  of  by  any  native  of  another 


IDUMEA.  217 

land,  as  the  Jewish  prophets  were,  nor  by  any  unin- 
spired mortal  whatever,  that  a  kingdom,  which  had  pre 
viously  subsisted  so  long,  (and  in  which  princes  ceasea 
not  to  reign,  commence  to  flourish,  and  "  a  people  of 
great  opulence"  to  dwell  for  more  than  six  hundred 
years  thereafter,)  would  be  finally  extinct,  that  all  its 
cities  would  be  for  ever  desolate,  and,  though  it  could 
have  boasted,  more  than  any  other  land,  of  indestructi- 
ble habitations  for  men,  that  their  habitations  would  be 
desolate  ;  and  that  certain  wild  animals^  mentioned  by 
name,  would,  in  different  manners  and  degrees,  possess 
the  country  from  generation  to  generation. 

There  shall  not  he  any  remaining  of  the  house  of  Esau. 
Edom  shall  he  cut  off  for  ever.  The  aliens  of  Judah 
ever  look  with  wistful  eyes  to  the  land  of  their  fathers  ; 
but  no  Edomite  is  now  to  be  found  to  dispute  the  right 
of  any  animal  to  the  possession  of  it,  or  to  banish  the 
owls  from  the  temples  and  tombs  of  Edom.  But  the 
house  of  Esau  did  remain,  and  existed  in  great  power, 
till  after  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  a  period 
far  too  remote  from  the  date  of  the  prediction  for  their 
subsequent  history  to  have  been  foreseen  by  man.  The 
Idumeans  were  soon  after  mingled  wdth  the  Nabatheans. 
And  in  the  third  century,  their  language  was  disused, 
and  their  very  name,  as  designating  any  people,  had 
utterly  perished  ;  and  their  country  itself  having  become 
an  outcast  from  Syria,  among  whose  kingdoms  it  had 
long  been  numbered,  was  united  to  Arabia  Petraea.* 
Though  the  descendants  of  the  twin-born  Esau  and 
Jacob  have  met  a  diametrically  opposite  fate,  the  fact  is 
no  less  marvellous  and  undisputed,  than  the  prediction 
in  each  case  is  alike  obvious  and  true.  While  the  pos- 
terity of  Jacob  have  been  "  dispersed  in  every  country 
under  heaven,"  and  are  "  scattered  among  all  nations," 
and  have  ever  remained  distinct  from  them  all,  and 
while  it  is  also  declared  that  "  a  full  end  will  never  be 
made  of  them ;"  the  Edomites,  though  they  existed  as  a 
nation  for  more  than  seventeen  hundred  years,  have^  as  a 
'  Origen,  lib.  iii.  in  Job. 
19 


SIS  IDUMEA. 

period  of  nearly  equal  duration  has  proved,  been  cut  off 
for  ever  ;  and  while  Jews  are  in  eveiy  land,  there  is  not 
any  remaining,  on  any  spot  of  earth,  of  the  house  of 
Esau. 

Idumea,  in  aid  of  a  neighbouring  state,  did  send 
forth,  on  a  sudden,  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  armed 
men ;  it  contained  many  towns  and  villages  long  after 
the  Christian  era ;  successive  kings  and  princes  reigned 
in  Petra  ;  and  magnificent  tombs  and  temples,  whose 
empty  chambers  and  naked  walls  of  wonderful  archi- 
tecture still  strike  the  traveller  with  amazement,  were 
constructed  there,  at  a  period  unquestionably  far  remote 
from  the  time  when  it  was  given  to  the  prophets  of 
Israel  to  tell,  that  the  house  of  Esau  was  to  be  cut  off 
for  ever,  that  there  would  be  no  kingdom  there,  and 
that  wild  animals  would  possess  Edom  for  a  heritage. 
And  so  despised  is  Edom,  and  the  memory  of  its  great- 
ness lost,  that  there  is  no  record  of  antiquity  that  can  so 
clearly  show  us  what  once  it  was,  in  the  days  of  its 
power,  as  we  can  now  read  in  the  page  of  prophecy,  its 
existing  desolation.  But  in  that  place  where  kings  kept 
their  court,  and  where  nobles  assembled,  where  manifest 
proofs  of  ancient  opulence  are  concentrated,  where 
princely  mausoleums,  retaining  their  external  grandeur, 
but  bereft  of  all  their  splendour,  still  look  as  if  "  fresh 
from  the  chisel," — even  there  no  man  dwells  ;  it  is  given 
by  lot  to  birds,  and  beasts,  and  reptiles  ;  it  is  a  "  court 
for  owls,"  and  scarcely  are  they  ever  frayed  from  their 
"  lonely  habitation,"  by  the  tread  of  a  solitary  traveller 
from  a  far  distant  land,  among  deserted  dwellings  and 
desolated  ruins. 

Hidden  as  the  history  and  state  of  Edom  have  been 
for  ages,  every  recent  disclosure,  being  an  echo  of  the 
prophecies,  amply  corroborates  the  truth,  that  the  word 
of  the  Lord  does  not  return  unto  him  void,  but  ever 
fulfils  the  purpose  for  which  he  hath  sent  it.  But  the 
whole  of  its  work  is  not  yet  wrought  in  Edom,  which 
has  farther  testimony  in  store  ;  and  while  the  evidence 
is  not  yet  complete,  so  neither  is  the  time  of  the  final 


IDUMEA.  219 

judgments  on  the  land  yet  fully  come.  Judea,  Ammon, 
and  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  prophecy,  shall 
revive  from  their  desolation,  and  the  wild  animals  who 
have  conjoined  their  depredations  with  those  of  barbarous 
men,  in  perpetuating  the  desolation  of  these  countries, 
shall  find  a  refuge  and  undisturbed  possession  in  Edom, 
when  the  year  of  recompenses  for  the  controversy  of 
Zion  being  past,  it  shall  be  divided  unto  them  by  line, 
when  they  shall  possess  it  for  ever,  and  from  generation 
to  generation  shall  dwell  therein.  But  without  looking 
into  futurity,  a  retrospect  may  here  warrant,  before 
leaving  the  subject,  a  concluding  clause. 

That  man  is  a  bold  believer,  and  must,  with  whatever 
reluctance,  forego  the  name  of  skeptic,  who  possesses 
such  redundant  credulity  as  to  think,  that  all  the  predic- 
tions respecting  Edom,  and  all  others  recorded  in  Scrip- 
ture, and  realized  by  facts,  were  the  mere  hap-hazard 
results  of  fortuitous  conjectures.  And  he  who  thus, 
without  reflecting  how  incongruous  it  is  to  "  strain  at  a 
gnat  and  swallow  a  camel,"  can  deliberately,  and  with 
an  unruffled  mind,  place  such  an  opinion  among  the 
articles  of  his  faith,  may  indeed  be  pitied  by  those  who 
know  in  whom  they  have  believed,  but,  if  he  forfeit  not 
thereby  all  right  of  ever  appealing  to  reason,  must  at 
least  renounce  all  title  to  stigmatize,  in  others,  even  the 
most  preposterous  belief.  Or  if  such,  after  all,  must 
needs  be  his  philosophical  creed,  and  his  rational  con- 
viction !  what  can  hinder  him  from  believing  also  that 
other  chance  words — such  as  truly  marked  the  fate  of 
Edom,  but  more  numerous  and  clear,  and  which,  were 
he  to  "  seek  out  and  read,"  he  would  find  in  the  self- 
same "  book  of  the  Lord,"-^may  also  prove  equally 
true  to  the  spirit,  if  not  to  the  letter,  against  all  the  ene- 
mies of  the  gospel,  whether  hypocrites  or  unbelievers  ? 
May  not  his  belief  in  the  latter  instance  be  strengthened 
by  the  experience  that  many  averments  of  Scripture,  in 
respect  to  times  then  future,  and  to  facts  then  unknown, 
have  already  proved  true  ?  And  may  he  not  here  find 
some  analogy,  at  least,  on  which  to  rest  his  faith,  whereas 


220  IDUMEA. 

the  conviction  which  in  the  former  case  he  so  readily 
cherishes,  is  totally  destitute  of  £my  semblance  whatever 
to  warrant  the  possibility  of  its  truth  ?  Or  is  this  indeed  the 
sum  of  his  boasted  wisdom,  to  hold  to  the  conviction  of  the 
fallacy  of  all  the  coming  judgments  denounced  in  Scrip- 
ture, till  "experience,"  personaVthough  it  be,  should  prove 
them  to  be  as  true  as  the  past,  and  a  compulsory  and  un- 
changeable but  unredeeming  faith  be  grafted  on  despair  ? 
Or  if  less  proof  can  possibly  suffice,  let  him  timely  read 
and  examine,  and  disprove  also,  all  the  credentials  of 
revelation,  before  he  account  the  believer  credulous,  or 
the  unbeliever  wise  ;  or  else  let  him  abandon  the  thought 
that  the  unrepented  iniquity  and  wilful  perversity  of 
man,  and  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief  (all  proof  derided,  all 
offered  mercy  rejected,  all  meetness  for  an  inheritance 
among  them  that  are  sanctified  unattained,  and  all  warn- 
ing lost)  shall  not  finally  forbid  that  Edom  stand  alone, 
the  seared  and  blasted  monument  of  the  judgments  of 
Heaven. 

A  w^ord  may  here  be  spoken  even  to  the  wise.  Were 
any  of  the  sons  of  men  to  be  uninstructed  in  the  fear  of 
the  Lord,  which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  his  word,  which  maketh  wise  unto  salva- 
tion, and  to  be  thus  ignorant  of  the  truths  and  precepts 
of  the  gospel,  which  should  all  tell  upon  every  deed 
done  in  the  body  ;  what,  in  such  a  case,  if  all  their  supe- 
rior knowledge  were  unaccompanied  by  religious  princi- 
ples, would  all  mechanical  and  physical  science  eventu- 
ally prove,  but  the  same,  in  kind,  as  the  wisdom  of  the 
wise  men  of  Edom  ?  And  were  they  to  perfect  in  astro- 
nomy, navigation,  and  mechanics,  what,  according  to  Sir 
Isaac  Newton,  the  Edomites  began,  what  would  the 
moulding  of  matter  to  their  will  avail  them,  as  moral  and 
accountable  beings,  if  their  own  hearts  were  not  con- 
formed to  the  divine  will ;  and  what  would  all  their  la- 
bour be  at  last,  but  strength  spent  for  naught  ?  For  were 
they  to  raise  column  above  column,  and  again  to  hew  a 
zity  out  of  the  cliffs  of  the  rock,  let  but  such  another 
^ord  of  that  God,  whom  they  seek  not  to  know,  go  forth 


IDUMEA.  221 

against  it,  and  all  their  mechanical  ingenuity  and  labour 
would  just  end  in  forming — that  which  Petra  is,  and 
which  Rome  itself  is  destined  to  be — "  a  cage  of  every 
unclean  and  hateful  bird."  The  experiment  has  already 
been  made ;  it  may  well  and  wisely  be  trusted  to  as 
much  as  those  which  mortals  make  ;  and  it  is  set  before 
us  that,  instead  of  provoking  the  Lord  to  far  worse  than 
its  repetition  in  personal  judgments  against  ourselves, 
we  may  be  warned  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  which  is 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  to  hear  and  obey  the  words  of 
Him — "  even  of  Jesus,  who  delivereth  from  the  wrath 
to  come."  For  how  much  greater  than  any  degradation 
to  which  hewn  but  unfeeling  rocks  can  be  reduced,  is 
that  of  a  soul,  which  while  in  the  body  might  have  been 
formed  anew  after  the  image  of  an  all-holy  God,  and 
made  meet  for  beholding  his  face  in  glory, — passing  from 
spiritual  darkness  into  a  spiritual  state  where  all  know- 
ledge of  earthly  things  shall  cease  to  be  power ;  where 
all  the  riches  of  this  world  shall  cease  to  be  gain  ;  where 
the  want  of  religious  principles  and  of  Christian  virtues 
shall  leave  the  soul  naked,  as  the  bare  and  empty  dwell- 
ings in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks ;  where  the  thoughts  of 
worldly  wisdom,  to  which  it  was  inured  before,  shall 
haunt  it  still,  and  be  more  unworthy  and  hateful  occu- 
pants of  the  immortal  spirit,  than  are  the  owls  amid  the 
palaces  of  Edom ;  and  where  all  those  sinful  passions, 
which  rested  on  the  things  which  were  seen,  shall  be  like 
unto  the  scorpions  which  hold  Edom  as  their  heritage 
for  ever,  and  which  none  can  now  scare  away  from  among 
the  wild  vines  that  are  there  entwined  around  the  broken 
altars,  where  false  gods  were  worshipped. 


19* 


222  PHILISTIA. 


PHILISTIA. 


The  land  of  the  Philistines  bordered  on  the  west  and 
south-west  of  Judea,  and  lies  on  the  south-east  point  oi 
the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  country  to  the  north  of 
Gaza  is  very  fertile,  and  long  after  the  Christian  era  it 
possessed  a  very  numerous  population,  and  strongly  for- 
tified cities.  No  human  probability  could  possibly  have 
existed,  in  the  time  of  the  prophets,  or  at  a  much  more 
recent  date,  of  its  eventual  desolation.  But  it  has  belied, 
for  many  ages,  every  promise  which  the  fertility  of  its 
soil,  and  the  excellence  both  of  its  climate  and  situation 
gave,  for  many  preceding  centuries,  of  its  permanency 
as  a  rich  and  well-cultivated  region.  And  the  voice  of 
prophecy,  which  was  not  silent  respecting  it,  proclaimed 
the  fate  that  awaited  it,  in  terms  as  contradictory,  at  the 
time,  to  every  natural  suggestion,  as  they  are  descriptive 
of  what  Philistia  now  actually  is. 

"  I  will  stretch  out  my  hand  upon  the  Philistines,  and 
destroy  the  remnant  of  the  sea-coasts."^  "Baldness  is 
come  upon  Gaza ;  Ashkelon  is  cut  off  with  the  remnant 
of  their  valley."^  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  For  three 
transgressions  of  Gaza,  and  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away 
the  punishment  thereof.  I  will  send  a  fire  upon  the  wall 
of  Gaza,  which  shall  devour  the  palaces  thereof.  And 
I  will  cut  off  the  inhabitant  from  Ashdod,  and  him  that 
holdeth  the  sceptre  from  Ashkelon ;  and  I  will  turn  my 
hand  against  Ekron  ;  and  the  remnant  of  the  Philistines 
shall  perish,  saith  the  Lord  God."^  "  For  Ashkelon  shall 
be  a  desolation,  and  Ekron  shall  be  rooted  up.  0  Canaan, 
the  land  of  the  Philistines,  I  will  even  destroy  thee,  that 
there  shall  be  no  inhabitant ;  and  the  sea-coasts  shall  be 
dwellings   and   cottages   for   shepherds,  and   folds  for 

•  Ezek.  XXV.  16  2  jer.  xlvii.  6. 

'  Amos  L  fi-  7. 8. 


PHILISTIA.  223 

flocks."'  "  The  king  shall  perish  from  Gaza,  and  Ash- 
kelon  shall  not  be  inhabited."^ 

The  land  of  the  Philistines  was  to  he  destroyed.  It 
partakes  of  the  general  desolation  common  to  it  with 
Judea  and  other  neighbouring  states.  While  ruins  are 
to  be  found  in  all  Syria,  they  are  particularly  abundant 
along  the  sea-coasts,  which  formed,  on  the  south,  the 
realm  of  the  Philistines.  But  its  aspect  presents  some 
existing  peculiarities,  which  travellers  fail  not  to  particu- 
larize, and  which,  in  reference  both  to  the  state  of  the 
country  and  the  fate  of  its  different  cities,  the  prophets 
failed  not  to  discriminate  as  justly  as  if  their  description 
had  been  drawn  both  with  all  the  accuracy  which  ocular 
observation,  and  all  the  certainty  which  authenticated 
history  could  give.  And  the  authority,  so  often  quoted, 
may  here  again  be  appealed  to.  Volney  (though,  like  one 
who  in  ancient  times  was  instrumental  to  the  fulfilment 
of  a  special  prediction,  "  he  meant  not  so,  neither  did 
his  heart  think  so")  from  the  manner  in  which  he  gene- 
ralizes his  observations,  and  marks  the  peculiar  features 
of  the  different  districts  of  Syria,  with  greater  acuteness 
and  perspicuity  than  any  other  traveller  whatever,  is  the 
ever-ready  purveyor  of  evidence  in  all  the  cases  which 
came  within  the  range  of  his  topographical  description 
of  the  wide  field  of  prophecy ;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
from  his  known,  open,  and  zealous  hostility  to  the  Chris- 
tian cause,  his  testimony  is  alike  decisive  and  unques- 
tionable ;  and  the  vindication  of  the  truth  of  the  follow- 
ing predictions  may  safely  be  committed  to  this  redoubted 
champion  of  infidelity. 

The  sea-coast  shall  he  dwellings  and  cottages  for  shep- 
herds  and  folds  for  flocks.  The  remnant  of  the  Philis- 
tines shall  perish.  Baldness  is  come  upon  Gaza  ;  it  shall 
he  forsaken.  The  king  shall  perish  from  Gaza.  I  will 
cut  of  the  inhabitants  from  Ashdod.  Ashkelon  shall  he 
a  desolation  ;  it  shall  he  cut  off"  with  the  remnant  of  the 
valley ;  it  shall  not  he  inhabited.  "  In  the  plain  between 
Ramla  and  Gaza,"  (the  very  plain  of  the  Philistines 
'  Zeph.  ii.  4,  5,  6.  2  Zech.  ix.  5. 


224  PHILISTIA. 

along  the  sea-coast)  "  we  met  with  a  number  of  villages, 
badly  built  of  dri«d  mud,  and  which,  like  the  inhabit- 
ants, exhibit  every  mark  of  poverty  and  wretchedness. 
The  houses,  on  a  nearer  view,  are  only  so  many  huts, 
(cottages,)  sometimes  detached,  at  others  ranged  in  the 
forni  of  cells,  around  a  courtyard,  enclosed  by  a  mud 
wall.  In  winter,  they  and  their  cattle  may  be  said  to 
live  together,  the  part  of  the  dwelling  allotted  to  them- 
selves being  only  raised  two  feet  above  that  in  which 
they  lodge  their  beasts — {dwellings  and  cottages  for  shep- 
herds, and  folds  for  fiocks.)  Except  the  environs  of 
these  villages,  all  the  rest  of  the  country  is  a  desert,  and 
abandoned  to  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  who  feed  their  flocks 
on  it."*  The  remnant  shall  perish ;  the  land  of  the 
Philistines  shall  be  destroyed  that  there  shall  be  no  in- 
habitant, and  the  sea-coast  shall  be  dwellings  and  cot- 
tages for  shepherds,  and  folds  for  flocks. 

"The  ruins  of  white  marble  sometimes  found  at  Gaza, 
prove  that  it  was  formerly  the  abode  of  luxury  and  opu- 
lence. It  has  vshared  in  the  general  destruction ;  and, 
notwithstanding  its  proud  title  of  the  capital  of  Pales- 
tine, it  is  now  no  more  than  a  defenceless  village," 
(baldness  has  come  upon  it,)  "  peopled  by,  at  most,  only 
two  thousand  inhabitants."^  It  vi  forsaken  and  bereaved 
of  its  king.  "  The  sea-coast,  by  which  it  was  formerly 
washed,  is  every  day  removing  farther  from  the  deserted 
ruins  of  Ashkelon."-^  It  shall  be  a  desolation.  Ashke- 
lon  shall  not  be  iJihabited.  "  Amidst  the  various  suc- 
cessive ruins,  those  of  Edzoud,  (Ashdod,)  so  powerful 
under  the  Philistines,  are  now  remarkable  for  their  scor- 
pions."*    The  inhabitants  shall  be  cut  off" from  Ashdod. 

Although  the  Christian  traveller  must  yield  the  palm 
to  Volney,*  as  the  topographer  of  prophecy,  and  although 

1  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  335,  336.  2  ibj^.  p.  340. 

3  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  338.  "^  Ibid. 

*  Had  Volney  been  a  believer;  had  he  "sought  out  of  the  book 
of  the  Lord  and  read ;"  and  had  he  applied  all  the  facts  which  he 
knew  in  illustration  of  the  prophecies,  how  completely  would  he 
have  proved  their  inspiration !  But  it  is  well  for  the  cause  of 
truth,  that  such  a  witness  was  himself  an  unbeliever ;  for  his  evi- 


PHILISTIA.  as© 

supplementary  evidence  be  not  requisite,  yet  a  place  is 
here  willingly  given  to  the  following  just  observations. 

"Ashkelon  was  one  of  the  proudest  satrapies  of  the 
lords  of  the  Philistines ;  now  there  is  not  an  inhabitant 
within  its  walls ;  and  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah  is  ful- 
filled. The  king  shall  perish  from  Gaza,  and  Ashkelon 
shall  not  be  inhabited.  When  the  prophecy  was  uttered, 
both  cities  were  in  an  equally  flourishing  condition  ;  and 
nothing  but  the  prescience  of  Heaven  could  pronounce 
on  which  of  the  two,  and  in  what  manner,  the  vial  of 
its  wrath  should  be  poured  out.  Gaza  is  truly  without 
a  king.  The  lofty  towers  of  Ashkelon  lie  scattered  on 
the  ground,  and  the  ruins  within  its  walls  do  not  shelter 
a  human  being.  How  is  the  wrath  of  man  made  to 
praise  his  Creator!  Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not 
do  it  ?  The  oracle  was  delivered  by  the  mouth  of  the 
prophet  more  than  five  hundred  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  and  we  behold  its  accomplishment  eighteen  hun- 
dred vears  after  that  event." 


years 


JH 


Cogent  and  just  as  the  reasoning  is,  the  facts  stated 
by  Volney  give  wider  scope  for  an  irresistible  argument. 
The  fate  of  one  city  is  not  only  distinguished  from  that 
of  another ;  but  the  varied  aspect  of  the  country  itself, 
the  dwellings  and  cottages  for  shepherds  in  one  part,  and 
that  very  region  named ;  the  rest  of  the  land  destroyed 
and  uninhabited,  a  desert,  and  abandoned  to  the  flocks 
of  the  wandering  Arabs ;  Gaza,  bereaved  of  a  king,  a 
defenceless  village,  destitute  of  all  its  fortifications ;  Ash- 
kelon, a  desolation,  and  without  an  inhabitant ;  the  in- 
habitants also  cut  off"  from  Ashdod,  as  reptiles  tenanted 
it  instead  of  men, — form  in  each  instance  a  specific  predic- 

dence,  in  many  an  instance,  comes  so  very  close  to  the  predic- 
tions, that  his  testimony  in  the  relation  of  positive  facts  would 
have  been  utterly  discredited,  and  held  as  purposely  adapted  to 
the  very  words  of  prophecy,  by  those  who  otherwise  lent  a  greed)- 
ear  to  his  utterance  of  some  of  the  wildest  fancies  and  most  gross 
untruths  that  ever  emanated  from  the  mind  of  man,  or  ever  en- 
tered into  a  deceitful  heart.  He  who  so  artfully  could  pervert  the 
truth,  falls  the  victim  of  facts  stated  by  himself. 
'  Richardson's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  204. 


236  PHILISTIA. 

tion,  and  a  recorded  fact,  and  present  such  a  view  of  the 
existing  state  of  Philistia,  as  renders  it  difficult  to  deter- 
mine, from  the  strictest  accordance  that  prevails  between 
Doth,  whether  the  inspired  penman,  or  the  defamer  of 
Scripture,  gives  the  more  vivid  description.  Nor  is 
there  any  obscurity  whatever,  in  any  one  of  the  circum- 
stances, or  in  any  part  of  the  proof.  The  coincidence  is 
too  glaring,  even  for  wilful  blindness  not  to  discern  ;  and 
to  all,  the  least  versed  in  general  history,  the  priority  of 
the  predictions  to  the  events  is  equally  obvious.  And 
such  was  the  natural  fertility  of  the  country,  and  such 
was  the  strength  and  celebrity  of  the  cities,  that  no  con- 
jecture possessing  the  least  shadow  of  plausibility  can 
be  formed  in  what  manner  any  of  these  events  could 
possibly  have  been  thought  of,  even  for  many  centuries 
after  "the  vision  and  prophecy"  were  sealed.  After 
that  period,  Gaza  defied  the  power  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  withstood  for  two  months  a  hard-pressed 
siege.  The  army,  with  which  he  soon  afterwards  over- 
threw the  Persian  empire,  having  there,  as  well  as  at 
Tyre,  been  checked  or  delayed  in  the  first  flush  of  con- 
quest, and  he  himself  having,  been  twice  wounded  in 
desperate  attempts  to  storm  the  city,  the  proud  and  en- 
raged king  of  Macedon,  with  all  the  cruelty  of  a  brutish 
heart,  and  boasting  of  himself  as  a  second  Achilles, 
dragged  at  his  chariot-wheels  the  intrepid  general  who 
had  defended  it,  twice  around  the  walls  of  Gaza.*  Ash- 
kelon  was  no  less  celebrated  for  the  excellence  of  its 
wines  than  for  the  strength  of  its  fortifications. ^  And  of 
Ashdod,  it  is  related  by  an  eminent  ancient  historian,  not 
only  that  it  was  a  great  city,  but  that  it  withstood  the  long- 
est siege  recorded  in  history,  (it  may  almost  be  said,  either 
of  prior  or  of  later  date,)  having  been  besieged  for  the 
space  of  twenty-nine  years  by  Psammetichus,  king  of 
Egypt.^  Strabo,  after  the  commencement  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  classes  its  citizens  among  the  chief  inhabitants 

'  Quintus  Curtius,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxvi. 

2  Relandi  Palaest.  pp.  341,  586. 

3  Herodot.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  clvii. 


PHILISTIA.  227 

of  Syria.  Each  of  these  cities,  Gaza,  Ashkelon,  and 
Ashdod,  was  the  see  of  a  bishop,  from  the  days  of  Con- 
stantine  to  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens.  And,  as  a  de- 
cisive proof  of  their  existence  as  cities,  long  subsequent 
to  the  delivery  of  the  predictions,  it  may  further  be  re- 
marked, that  different  coins  of  each  of  these  very  cities 
are  extant,  and  are  copied  and  described  in  several  ac- 
counts of  ancient  coins.*  The  once  princely  magnifi- 
cence of  Gaza  is  still  attested  by  the  "  ruins  of  white 
marble ;"  and  the  house  of  the  present  Aga  is  composed 
of  fragments  of  ancient  columns,  cornices,  &c. ;  and  in 
the  court-yard,  and  immured  in  the  wall,  are  shafts  and 
capitals  of  granite  columns. '^ 

In  short,  cottages  for  shepherds^  and  folds  for  flocks^ 
partially  scattered  along  the  sea-coasts,  are  now  truly  the 
best  substitutes  for  populous  cities,  that  the  once  power- 
ful realm  of  Philistia  can  produce  :  and  the  remTiant  of 
that  land,  which  gave  titles  and  grandeur  to  the  lords 
of  the  Philisrines,  is  destroyed.  Gaza,  the  chief  of  its 
satrapies,  "  the  abode  of  luxury  and  opulence,"  now 
bereaved  of  its  Icing,  and  bald  of  all  its  fortifications,  is 
the  defenceless  residence  of  a  subsidiary  ruler  of  a  de- 
vastated province  ;  and,  in  kindred  degradation,  orna- 
ments of  its  once  splendid  edifices  are  now  bedded  in  a 
wall  that  forms  an  enclosure  for  beasts.  A  handful  of 
men  could  now  take  unobstructed  possession  of  that 
place,  where  a  strong  city  opposed  the  entrance  and  de- 
fied for  a  time  the  power  of  the  conqueror  of  the  world. 
The  walls,  the  dwellings,  and  the  people  of  Ashkelon 
have  all  perished  ;  and  though  its  name  was,  in  the 
time  of  the  crusades,  shouted  in  triumph  throughout 
every  land  in  Europe,  it  is  now  literally  without  an  inha- 
bitant. And  Ashdod,  which  withstood  a  siege  treble 
the  duration  of  that  of  Troy,  and  thus  outrivalled  far  the 
boast  of  Alexander  at  Gaza,  has,  in  verification  of  "  the 
word  of  God,  which  is  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,"  been  cut  off,  and  has  fallen  before  it  to  nothing. 

'  Relandi  Palaest.  pp.  595,  609,  797. 
2  General  Straton's  MS. 


GAZA. 

There  is  yet  another  city  which  was  noted  by  the  pro- 
phets, the  very  want  of  any  information  respecting  which, 
and  the  absence  of  its  name  from  several  modern  mapp 
of  Palestine,  while  the  sites  of  other  ruined  cities  arc 
marked,  are  really  the  best  confirmation  of  the  truth  of 
the  prophecy  that  could  possibly  be  given.  Ekron  shall 
he  rooted  up.  It  is  rooted  up.  It  was  one  of  the  chief 
cities  of  the  Philistines ;  but  though  Gaza  still  subsists, 
and  while  Ashkelon  and  Ashdod  retain  their  names  in 
their  ruins,  the  very  name  of  Ekron  is  missing.* 

The  wonderful  contrast  in  each  particular,  whether  in 
respect  to  the  land,  or  to  the  cities  of  the  Philistines,  is 
the  exact  counterpart  of  the  literal  prediction ;  and, 
having  the  testimony  of  Volney  to  all  the  facts,  and  also 
indisputable  evidence  of  the  great  priority  of  the  predic- 
tions to  the  events,  what  more  complete  or  clearer  proof 
could  there  be,  that  each  and  all  of  these  predictions 
emanated  from  the  prescience  of  Heaven  ?  And  yet, 
though  previously  unthought  of  by  the  writer,  a  more 
complete  proof  may  be  given. 

Of  the  truth  of  the  prophecies  concerning  tenantless 
Ashkelon  and  uprooted  Ekron,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt : 
but  a  question  may  arise  whether  baldness,  in  the  full 
meaning  of  the  word,  has  come  upon  Gaza,  the  only  re- 
maining town  in  Philistia,  or  whether  that  city,  however 
fallen  from  its  former  greatness,  can  strictly  be  said  to  be 
forsaken,  if  peopled,  like  the  modern  town,  by  2000  in- 
habitants. But,  as  in  some  other  instances,  the  author 
has  been  dnven  from  a  comparatively  vague  or  unde- 
fined to  a  strictly  literal  interpretation. 

1  In  the  map  prefixed  to  Dr.  Sliaw's  Travels,  Akron  is  indeed 
marked  ;  but  it  is  placed  close  upon  the  sea-coast,  whereas  Ekron 
was  situated  in  the  interior,  and  was  at  least  ten  miles  distant. 
Shaw  did  not  visit  the  spot.  Dr.  Richardson  passed  some  ruins 
near  to  Ashdod,  and  conjectures  that  they  were  probably  Ekron, 
But  neither  does  the  site  of  them  correspond  with  that  of  Ekron, 
which,  according  to  Eusebius,  lay  between  Ashdod  and  Jamnia, 
towards  the  east  or  inland.  (Vide  Relandi  Palaest.  p.  77.)  Any 
diversity  of  opinion  respecting  its  site  is  not  the  least  conclusive 
proof  that  it  is  rooted  up. 


GAZA.  229 

Baldness  shall  come  upon  Gaza.  It  shall  be  forsaken. 
The  writer,  after  having  unconsciously  rested  a  night  on 
the  site  of  ancient  Gaza,  as  the  smoothest  place  that 
could  be  chosen  whereon  to  pitch  a  tent,  was  for  the  first 
time  aware  of  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  prophecy, 
when  he  saw  it  on  the  spot.  Detained  for  a  day  till 
camels  could  be  procured,  (the  plague  being  then  pre- 
valent at  Gaza,)  the  author  spent  it  in  traversing  the 
sand-hills  on  which  the  manifold  but  minute  remains  of 
an  ancient  city  are  yet  in  many  places  to  be  seen.  Though 
previously  holding  to  the  interpretation  given  above,  and 
not  imagining  that  any  clearer  illustration  could  be  given, 
and  ignorant  or  forgetful  at  the  time  of  any  historical  tes- 
timony that  the  site  of  modern  differed  from  that  of  an- 
cient Gaza,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  doubt  that  a 
city  had  once  stood  where  innumerable  vestiges  of  it  are 
to  be  seen.  The  debris  of  ruins  recognised  at  first  sight 
by  every  traveller  in  the  east,  as  clearly  indicating  the 
site  of  an  ancient  city,  are  abundant,  but  most  minute. 
Innumerable  fragments  of  broken  pottery,  pieces  of  glass, 
(some  of  which  were  beautifully  painted,)  of  polished 
marble,  and  fused  stones,  as  if  they  had  come  forth  from 
a  furnace,  lie  thickly  spread  in  every  level  and  hollow 
place  not  buried  under  sand,  at  a  considerable  elevation 
and  various  distances,  on  a  space  more  than  two  miles 
in  length,  and  nearly  a  mile  in  breadth.  These  obvious 
indications  of  the  site  of  an  ancient  city,  recurring  over 
a  wide  extent,  are  so  abundant,  that  the  number  of  dif- 
ferent places  in  which  they  profusely  lie  can  scarcely  be 
reckoned  under  fifty,  yet  uncovered  by  the  sand,  which 
not  unfrequently  surmounts  them  on  every  side.  They 
generally  occupy  a  level  space,  far  firmer  than  the  sur- 
rounding sand,  and  vary  in  size  from  small  patches  to 
more  open  spaces  of  twelve  or  twenty  thousand  square 
yards.  The  successive  sand-hills,  or  rather  the  same 
oblong  sand-hill,  greatly  varied  in  its  elevation,  and  of 
an  undulated  surface,  throughout  which  they  recur,  ex- 
tends, on  the  west  and  west-south-west,  from  the  environs 
of  the  modern  Gaza  nearly  to  the  sea. 
20 


230  GAZA. 

Before  approaching  Gaza,  unconscious  where  the  an  • 
cient  city  stood,  it  might  well  be  asked  what  is  meant 
by  baldness  coming  upon  it.  But  having  traversed  the 
place  on  which  it  stood,  and  beholding  it  as  it  rises 
naked  and  bare  above  the  plain,  its  perfect  baldness 
shows  how  truly  that  word  of 'the  Lord  rests  upon  it. 
The  writer  looked  in  vain  for  any  fragment  of  ruin  one 
cubic  foot  in  size,  for  any  shrub,  or  plant,  or  blade  of 
grass,  to  relieve  or  interrupt  the  perfect  baldness  that  has 
come  on  Gaza.  He  saw  nothing  but  a  jackal  freely 
coursing  over  its  bare  surface.  The  sand  of  the  desert 
is  nowhere  more  smooth  and  bare  ;  and  the  dark  spots, 
where  nothing  but  the  vestiges  of  ruins  lie,  are  so  flat 
and  level,  that  they  form  no  exception  to  its  baldness. 

Many  of  the  ruins,  it  may  well  be  imagined,  lie  buried 
in  the  sand  ;  those  that  remained  above  the  surface  have 
been  carried  away,  and  may  be  found  in  the  close  vici- 
nity, imbedded  in  the  walls  of  houses  or  court-yards  of 
the  comparatively  modern  town. 

Nothing  but  historical  testimony  to  the  fact,  that  the 
site  of  the  modern  town  differed  from  that  of  the  ancient 
city,  seems  requisite  to  complete  the  proof  that  Gaza 
once  flourished  where  baldness  now  reigns.  And  the 
geographer  Strabo,  who  lived  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Christian  era,  in  describing  the  coast  of  Syria,  re- ' 
cords :  "  Afterwards  is  the  port  of  Gaza,  and  at  the  dis- 
tance of  seven  furlongs  the  city,  formerly  illustrious, 
which  was  destroyed  by  Alexander,  and  remaining 
desert. ^''^  The  distance  of  seven  stadia  from  the  shore 
would  have  formed  about  the  centre  of  the  ancient  city, 
as  now  seen  by  its  rubbish.  But  the  modern  town  Hes 
at  the  distance  of  about  three  miles.  Ancient  writers, 
not  distinguishing  between  them,  seem  sometimes  to  have 
confounded  the  one  site  with  the  other.  Jerome  relates 
that,  in  his  time,  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century, 
scarcely  a  vestige  existed  of  the  ancient  city,  and  that 

'  EiS*  0  Tav  T^Atuy  ?J(juiv  7rx»a-iov  vTri^jctiTcu  h  kai  «  mKii  h  hrra.  a-raiJioic, 
Wo^of  Trent  y4V0fxiv>i,  KArtTTrtterjum  /  Cm   AXt^rtv/gow,  k<u  fjcmwa.  i^HfJi,of. 

Strabo,  torn.  ii.  p.  1080.  Ed.  Fal. 


GAZA.  231 

which  was  then  seen,  was  built  in  another  place,  instead 
of  the  city  which  was  utterly  ruined/  In  the  extracts 
from  ancient  authors  whose  age  is  uncertain,  edited  by 
Hudson,  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  lesser  geographers, 
distinct  mention  is  made  of  new  Gaza,  and  of  desert 
Gaza.^  Of  the  same  place  (rather  than  of  the  road)  the 
apostle  Paul  speaks,  under  the  same  name,  of  Gaza 
which  is  desert.  The  very  appellation  it  thus  received, 
as  recorded  or  described  by  Strabo  and  another  Greek 
geographer,  as  well  as  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and 
which  most  emphatically  and  truly  describes  it  in  one 
word,^ — for  no  desert  can  be  more  bare, — shows  how 
baldness  has  come  upon  it.  It  is  worthy  also  of  remark, 
as  Arrian  relates,  that  the  city  besieged  by  Alexander 
was  great,  and  situated  on  a  height ;  and  that  the  access 
to  it  was  very  difficult,  on  account  of  the  height  of  the 
sand,^ — facts  precisely  applicable  to  the  site  above  de- 
scribed, of  ancient,  or  desert  Gaza,  but  not  of  new  Gaza. 
Desert  and  desolate,  as  it  has  long  been  and  still  lies, 
not  tenanted  either  by  man  or  beast,  Gaza  is  forsaken. 

1  will  send  a  fire  upon  the  wall  of  Gaza,  which  shall 
devour  the  palaces  thereof.  Among  the  vestiges  and  frag- 
ments of  ruins,  many  pieces  of  scoriae,  or  fused  lime  and 
stone,  reticulated,  and  as  manifestly  burnt  as  if  they  had 
passed  through  a  furnace,  are  to  be  found  (some  speci- 
mens of  which  the  writer  yet  retains)  intermingled  with 
small  fragments  of  marble,  some  of  which  also,  as  seen 
by  him,  were  evidently  scathed,  or  bore  the  marks  of 
fire.  A  fire,  assuredly,  has  come  upon  Gaza,  and  has 
consumed  the  palaces  thereof  The  local,  geographical, 
and  existing  illustrations  of  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy, 
are  often  as  precisely  literal  as  those  which  repeatedly 

'  Antiqua  civitatis  locum  vix  fundamentorum  prsebere  vestis:ia, 
banc  autem  quae  nunc  cernitur  in  alio  loco,  pro  illzi  quae  corruit 
aedificatam.     Hieron.  torn.  iii.  p.  218. 

2  Relandi  Palaestina,  torn.  i.  p.  509. 

3  —  TTQXt;  (/.ivf^va-a.  "EPHMO^.      Strabo- 

"H  "EPHMO^  Y6^A.    Rel.  Pal.  torn.  i.  p.  609. 
—  I/?  Ta^ur  at/Tx  icTTiv  "EPHM02.     Acts  viii.  26.  ' 

*  Arrian,  lib.  ii.  26. 


232   .  LEBANON. 

occur  in  the  historical  parts  of  Scripture, — and  more 
literal  than  these,  as  patent  to  every  reader,  they  cannot 
possibly  be.  Ancient  Gaza,  the  once  lordly  city  of  the 
Philistines,  which  oppressed  the  people  of  Israel,  is  desert 
and  forsaken.  Minute  fragments  of  broken  pottery, 
brick^  glass,  and  marble,  and  undistinguishable  vitrified 
matter,  mingled  with  sand,  show  how  utterly  the  pride 
of  human  power  shall  be  broken ;  how  lowly  all  must  lie 
who  strive  against  the  Lord  ,  how  fiercely  the  fire  of  his 
jealousy  and  justice  burns  up  all  on  which  it  lights ;  and 
how  the  ruins  of  once  royal  cities,  their  day  of  glory  gone, 
show  that  HIS  word  is  that  of  the  Eternal  King. 

The  remaining  boundary  of  Judea  was  the  mountains 
of  Lebanon  on  the  north.  Lebanon  was  celebrated  for 
the  extent  of  its  forests,  and  particularly  for  the  size  and 
excellency  of  its  cedars.*  It  abounded  also  with  the 
pine,  the  cypress,  and  the  vine,  &c.  But,  describing 
what  it  now  is,  Volney  says,  "  Towards  Lebanon  the 
mountains  are  lofty,  but  they  are  covered  in  many  places 
with  as  much  earth  as  fits  them  for  cultivation  by  indus- 
try and  labour.  There,  amid  the  crags  of  the  rocks, 
may  be  seen  the  no  very  magnificent  remains  of  the 
boasted  cedars."*     The  words  of  the  prophets  of  Israel 

1  Relandi  Palaest.  pp.  320,  379.    Tacit.  Hist.  lib.  v.  cap.  vi. 

2  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  292.  Volney  remarks,  in  a  note,  that  there 
are  but  four  or  five  of  those  trees  which  deserve  any  notice ;  and 
in  a  note,  it  may  be  added,  from  the  words  of  Isaiah,  the  rest  of  the 
trees  of  his  forest  shall  be  few,  that  a  child  may  write  them.  (Isa.  I. 
19.)  Could  not  the  infidel  write  a  brief  note,  or  state  a  minute 
fact,  without  giving  a  literal  interpretation  to  an  apparently  sym- 
bolical prophecy]  Maundrell,  who  visited  Lebanon  in  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  to  whose  accuracy  in  other  matters 
all  subsequent  travellers  who  refer  to  him  bear  witness,  describes 
some  of  the  cedars  near  the  top  of  the  mountain  as  "very  old,  and 
of  a  prodigious  bulk,  and  others  younger  of  a  smaller  size."  Of 
the  former  he  could  reckon  up  only  sixteen.  He  measured  the 
largest,  and  found  it  about  twelve  yards  in  girth.  Such  trees, 
however  few  in  number,  show  that  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  had  once 
been  no  vain  boast.  But  after  the  lapse  of  niore  than  a  century, 
not  a  single  tree  of  such  dimensions  is  now  to  be  seen.  Of  those 
which  now  remain,  us  visited  by  Captains  Irby  and  Mangles,  there 


PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  JUDEA,  ETC.     233 

answer  the  sarcasm,  and  convert  it  into  a  testimony  of 
the  truth:  "  Lebanon  is  ashamed  and  hewn  down.  The 
high  ones  of  stature  shall  be  hewn  down  :  Lebanon  shall 
fall  by  a  mighty  one."*  "  Upon  the  mountains,  and  in 
all  the  valleys,  his  branches  are  fallen ;  to  the  end  that 
none  of  all  the  trees  by  the  waters  exalt  themselves  for 
their  height,  neither  shoot  up  their  top  among  the  thick 
boughs."^  "  Open  thy  doors,  O  Lebanon,  that  the  fire 
may  devour  thy  cedars.  The  cedar  is  fallen ;  the  forest 
of  the  vintage  is  come  down."^ 

Such  are  the  prophecies  which  explicitly  and  avow- 
edly refer  to  the  land  of  Judea,  and  to  the  surrounding 
states.  And  such  are  the  facts  drawn  from  the  narratives 
of  travellers,  and  given,  in  general,  in  their  own  words, 
which  substantiate  their  truth  ;  though  without  any  allu- 
sion, but  in  a  few  solitary  instances,  to  the  predictions 
which  they  amply  verify.  The  most  unsuspected  evi- 
dence has  been  selected  ;  and  the  far  greater  part  is  so 
fully  corroborated,  and  illustrated  by  other  testimony,  as 
to  bid  defiance  to  skepticism.  The  prophecies  and  the 
proofs  of  their  fulfilment  are  so  numerous,  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  concentrate  them  in  a  single  view,  without 
the  exclusion  of  many  ;  and  they  are,  upon  a  simple  com- 
parison, so  obvious  and  striking,  that  any  attempt  at  their 
farther  elucidation  must  hazard  the  obscuring  of  their 
clearness,  and  the  enfeebling  of  their  force.  There  is  no 
ambiguity  in  the  prophecies  themselves,  for  they  can 
bear  no  other  interpretation  but  what  is  descriptive  of 
the  actual  events.  There  can  be  no  question  of  their 
genuineness  or  antiquity,  for  the  countries  whose  future 
history  they  unveiled  contained  several  millions  of  inha- 
bitants, and  numerous  flourishing  cities,  at  a  period  cen- 
turies subsequent  to  the  delivery,  the  translation,  and 
publication  of  the  prophecies,  and  when  the  regular  and 
public  perusal  of  their  Scriptures  was  the  law  and  the 

are  about  fifty  in  whole,  on  a  single  small  eminence,  from  which 
spot  the  cedars  are  the  only  trees  to  be  seen  in  Lebanon.    CP.  209.) 
1  Isa.  xxxiii.  9,  x.  33,  34.      2  Ezek.  xxxi.  12,  14.      3  Zech.  xi.  1, 2. 
20* 


234  SUMMARY  OF  THE   PROPHECIES 

practice  of  the  Israelites ;  and  they  have  only  gradually 
been  reduced  to  their  existing  state  of  long-prophe- 
sied desolation.  There  could  not  possibly  have  been 
any  human  means  of  the  foresight  of  facts  so  many  and 
so  marvellous  ;  for  every  natural  appearance  contradicted 
and  every  historical  fact  condemned  the  supposition : 
and  nothing  but  continued  oppression  and  a  succession 
of  worse  than  Gothic  desolaters,  no  government  on  earth 
but  the  Turkish,  no  spoliators  but  the  Arabs,  could 
have  converted  such  natural  fertility  into  such  utter  and 
permanent  desolation.  Could  it  have  been  foreseen, 
that  after  the  lapse  of  some  hundred  years,  no  interval 
of  prosperity  or  peaceful  security  would  occur  through- 
out many  ensuing  generations,  to  revive  its  deadened 
energies,  or  to  rescue  from  uninterrupted  desolation  one 
of  the  richest  and  one  of  the  most  salubrious  regions  of 
the  world,  which  the  greater  part  of  these  territories  na- 
turally is  ?  Could  the  present  aspect  of  any  country,  with 
every  alterable  feature  changed,  and  with  every  altered 
feature  marked,  have  been  delineated  by  different  unin- 
spired mortals,  in  various  ages  from  2200  to  3300  years 
past  ?  And  there  could  not,  so  far  as  all  researches  have 
hitherto  reached,  be  a  more  triumphant  demonstration, 
from  existing  facts,  of  the  truth  of  manifold  prophecies. 
In  reference  to  the  complete  historical  truth  of  the  pre- 
dictions respecting  the  successive  kings  of  Syria  and 
Egypt,  Bishop  Newton  emphatically  remarks,  (as  Sir 
Isaac  Newton's  observations  had  previously  proved,) 
that  there  is  not  so  concise  and  comprehensive  an  ac- 
count of  their  affairs  to  be  found  in  any  author  of  these 
times ;  that  the  prophecy  is  really  more  perfect  than  any 
single  history,  and  that  no  one  historian  has  related  so 
many  circumstances  as  the  prophet  has  foretold  :  so  that 
'*  it  was  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  several  authors 
lor  the  better  explaining  and  illustrating  the  great  variety 
of  particulars  contained  in  the  prophecy."  The  same 
remark,  in  the  same  words,  may,  more  obviously  and 
with  equal  truth,  be  now  applied  to  the  geographical^  as 
well  as  to  the  historical  proof  of  the  truth  of  prophecy. 


CONCERNING  JUDEA,  ETC.  235 

Judea,  which,  before  the  age  of  the  prophets,  had,  from 
the  uniformity  and  pecuHarity  of  its  government  and 
laws,  remained  unvaried  in  a  manner  and  to  a  degree 
unusual  among  nations,  has  since  undergone  many  con- 
vulsions, and  has  for  many  generations  been  unceasingly 
subjected  to  reiterated  spoliation.  And  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  more  than  twenty  centuries,  travellers  see  what 
prophets  foretold.  Each  prediction  is  fulfilled  in  all  its 
particulars,  so  far  as  the  facts  have  (and  in  almost  every 
case  they  have)  been  made  known.  But  while  the  re- 
cent discoveries  of  many  travellers  have  disclosed  the 
state  of  these  countries,  each  of  their  accounts  presents 
only  an  imperfect  delineation ;  and  a  variety  of  these 
must  be  combined  before  they  bring  fully  into  view  all 
those  diversified,  discriminating,  and  characteristic  fea- 
tures of  the  extensive  scene,  which  were  vividly  depicted 
of  old,  in  all  their  minute  lines  and  varied  shades,  by  the 
pencil  of  prophecy,  and  which  set  before  us,  as  it  were, 
the  history,  the  land,  and  the  people  of  Palestine. 

Judea,  trodden  down  by  successive  desolaters ;  re- 
maining uncultivated  from  generation  to  generation  ;  the 
general  devastation  of  the  country ;  the  mouldering  ruins 
of  its  many  cities ;  the  cheerless  solitude  of  its  once 
happy  plains ;  the  wild  produce  of  its  luxuriant  moun- 
tains ;  the  land  covered  with  thorns ;  the  highways  waste 
and  untrodden;  its  ancient  possessors  scattered  abroad; — 
the  inhabitants  thereof  depraved  in  character,  few  in 
number,  eating  their  bread  with  carefulness,  or  in  con- 
stant dread  of  the  spoiler  or  oppressor; — the  insecurity  of 
property ;  the  uselessness  of  labour ;  the  poverty  of  their 
revenues  ;  the  land  emptied  and  despoiled  ;  instrumental 
music  ceased  from  among  them ;  the  mirth  of  the  land 
gone ;  the  use  of  wine  prohibited  in  a  land  of  vines, 
and  the  wine  itself  bitter  unto  them  that  drink  it ; — some 
very  partial  exceptions  from  universal  desolation,  some 
rescued  remnants,  like  the  gleanings  of  a  field,  and  em- 
blems of  the  departed  glory  of  Judea : — the  devastation 
of  the  land  of  Ammon ;  the  extinction  of  the  Ammonites, 
the.  destruction  of  all  their  cities ;  their  country  a  spoil 


236     PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  JUDEA,  ETC. 

to  the  heathen,  and  a  perpetual  desolation : — the  deso- 
lation of  Moab,  its  cities  without  any  to  dwell  therein, 
and  no  city  escaped ;  the  valley  perished,  the  plain  de- 
stroyed ;  the  wanderers  that  have  come  up  against  it, 
and  that  cause  its  inhabitants  to  wander ;  the  manner  of 
the  spoliation  of  the  dwellers  in  Moab,  their  danger  and 
insecurity  in  the  plain  country,  and  flying  to  the  rocks 
for  a  refuge  and  a  home,  while  flocks  lie  down  among 
the  ruins  of  the  cities,  none  there  to  make  them  afraid ; 
and  the  despoiled  and  impoverished  condition  of  some 
of  its  wretched  wanderers : — Idumea  the  scene  of  an  un- 
paralleled and  irrecoverable  desolation  ;  its  cities  utterly 
abandoned  and  destroyed ;  of  the  greater  part  of  them 
no  traces  left ;  a  desolate  wilderness,  over  which  the 
line  of  confusion  is  stretched  out ;  the  country  bare ;  no 
kingdom  there;  its  princes  and  nobles  nothing,  and 
empty  sepulchres  their  only  memorials  ;  thistles  and 
thorns  in  its  palaces ;  a  border  of  wickedness,  and  yet 
greatly  despised;  wisdom  perished  from  Teman,  and 
understanding  out  of  the  mount  of  Esau ;  abandoned  to 
birds,  and  beasts,  and  reptiles,  specified  by  name ;  its 
ancient  possessors  cut  off*  for  ever,  and  no  one  remaining 
of  the  house  of  Esau : — the  destruction  of  the  cities  of 
the  Philistines;  cottages  for  shepherds  and  folds  for 
flocks,  along  the  sea-coasts ;  the  remnant  of  the  plain 
destroyed  and  unoccupied  by  any  fixed  inhabitants : — 
Lebanon  ashamed  ;  its  cedars,  few  and  diminutive,  now 
a  mockery  instead  of  a  praise ; — and,  finally,  the  differ- 
ent fate  of  many  cities  particularly  defined ;  the  long 
subjection  of  Jerusalem  to  the  gentiles  ; — Samaria  deso- 
late, as  an  heap  of  the  field,  or  cast  down  into  the  val- 
ley, and  its  foundations  discovered,  all  so  clearly  marked, 
both  in  the  prophecy  and  on  the  spot,  that  they  serve  to 
fix  its  site ; — Rabbah-Ammon,  the  capital  of  the  Am- 
monites, now  a  desolate  heap,  a  pasture  for  camels,  and  a 
couching-place  for  flocks; — the  chief  city  of  Edom  brought 
down,  a  court  for  owls,  and  no  man  dwelling  in  it; — Gaza 
forsaken,  and  baldness  come  upon  it ;  bearing  the  marks 
of  the  fire  which  has  devoured  its  palaces ; — Ashkelon 


NINEVEH.  237 

desolate,  without  an  inhabitant ;  and  Ekron  rooted  up : 
these  are  all  ancient  prophecies,  and  these  are  all  pre- 
sent facts,  which  form  of  themselves  a  phalanx  of  evi- 
dence which  all  the  shafts  of  infidelity  can  never  pierce. 

Though  the  countries  included  in  these  predictions 
comprehend  a  field  of  prophecy  extending  over  upwards 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  square  miles,  the 
existing  state  of  every  part  of  which  bears  witness  of 
their  truth ;  yet  the  prophets,  as  inspired  by  the  God  of 
nations,  foretold  the  fate  of  mightier  monarchies,  of  more 
extensive  regions,  and  of  more  powerful  cities;  and 
there  is  not  a  people,  nor  a  country,  nor  a  capital,  which 
was  then  known  to  the  Israelites,  whose  future  history 
they  did  not  clearly  reveal.  And,  instead  of  adducing 
arguments  from  the  preceding  very  abundant  materials, 
or  drawing  those  facts  already  adduced  to  their  legiti- 
mate conclusion,  they  may  be  left  in  their  native  strength, 
like  the  unhewn  adamant ;  and  we  may  pass  to  other 
proofs  which  also  show  that  the  temple  of  Christian  faith 
rests  upon  a  rock  that  cannot  be  shaken. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NINEVEH. 


To  a  brief  record  of  the  creation  of  the  antediluvian 
world,  and  of  the  dispersion  and  the  different  settlements 
of  mankind  after  the  deluge,  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
Testament  add  a  full  and  particular  history  of  the  He- 
brews for  the  space  of  fifteen  hundred  years,  from  the 
days  of  Abraham  to  the  era  of  the  last  of  the  prophets. 
While  the  historical  part  of  Scripture  thus  traces,  from 
its  origin,  the  history  of  the  world,  the  prophecies  give 
a  prospective  view  which  reaches  to  its  end.  And  it  is 
remarkable  that  profane  history,  emerging  from  fable, 


238  NINEVEH. 

becomes  clear  and  authentic  about  the  very  period  when 
sacred  history  terminates,  and  when  the  fulfilment  of 
those  prophecies  commences  which  refer  to  otlier  nations 
besides  the  Jews. 

^  Nineveh,  the  capital  of  Assyria,  was  for  a  long  time 
an  extensive  and  populous  city.  Its  walls  are  said,  by 
heathen  historians,  to  have  been  a  hundred  feet  in  height, 
sixty  miles  in  compass,  and  to  have  been  defended  by 
fifteen  hundred  towers,  each  two  hundred  feet  hi^h.* 
Although  it  formed  the  subject  of  some  of  the  earliest 
of  the  prophecies,  and  was  the  very  first  which  met  its 
predicted  fate  ;  yet  a  heathen  historian,  in  describing  its 
capture  and  destruction,  repeatedly  refers  to  an  ancient 
prediction  respecting  it.  Diodorus  Siculus  relates,  that 
the  king  of  Assyria,  after  the  complete  discomfiture  of 
his  army,  confided  in  an  old  prophecy,  that  Nineveh 
would  not  be  taken  unless  the  river  should  become  the 
enemy  of  the  city;*  that,  after  an  ineflfectual  siege  of  two 
years,  the  river,  swollen  with  long-continued  and  tem- 
pestuous torrents,  inundated  part  of  the  city  and  threw 
down  the  wall  for  the  space  of  twenty  furlongs ;  and 
that  the  king,  deeming  the  prediction  accomplished, 
despaired  of  his  safety,  and  erected  an  immense  funeral 
pile,  on  which  he  heaped  his  wealth,  and  with  which 
himself,  his  household,  and  palace,  were  consumed.' 
The  book  of  Nahum  was  avowedly  prophetic  of  the  de- 
struction of  Nineveh  :  and  it  is  there  foretold  that  "  the 
gates  of  the  rivers  shall  be  opened,  and  the  palace  shall 
be  dissolved."  "  Nineveh,  of  old,  like  a  pool  of  water — 
with  an  overrunning  flood  he  will  make  an  utter  end  of 

•  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  p.  12,  13.  See  Bochart.  Phaleg.  lib.  iv.  c.  xx. 
c.  252;  Rollin's  Anc.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  56,  57;  Bishop  Newton, 
Gibbon,  &c.  Strabo,  whose  testimony  also  has  been  often  repeat- 
ed, states  that  it  was  larger  than  Babylon.  "  It  must  be  owned," 
says  Calmet,  "  that  Nineveh  was  one  of  the  most  ancient,  the  most 
famous,  the  most  potent,  and  the  largest  cities  of  the  world." 

a  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  pp.  82,  83,  edit.  Wessel.  1793.  See  Univ. 
Hist.  vol.  iv.  pp.  305 — 8,  v.  37,  &c.;  Bishop  Newton,  p.  134,  13th 
edition. 

»  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  p.  84.  Poole,  Univ.  Hist.  ibid. ;  Bishop  Newton 


NINEVEH.  239 

the  place  thereof."*  The  historian  describes  the  facts 
by  which  the  other  predictions  of  the  prophet  were  as 
literally  fulfilled.  He  relates  that  the  king  of  Assyria, 
elated  with  his  former  victories,  and  ignorant  of  the 
revolt  of  the  Bactrians,  had  abandoned  himself  to  scan- 
dalous inaction ;  had  appointed  a  time  of  festivity,  and 
supplied  his  soldiers  with  abundance  of  wine  ;  and  that 
the  general  of  the  enemy,  apprised  by  deserters  of  their 
negligence  and  drunkenness,  attacked  the  Assyrian  array 
while  the  whole  of  them  were  fearlessly  giving  way  to 
indulgence,  destroyed  great  part  of  them,  and  drove  the 
rest  into  the  city."  The  words  of  the  prophet  were 
hereby  verified :  "  While  they  be  folden  together  as 
thorns,  and  while  they  are  drunken  as  drunkards,  they 
shall  be  devoured  as  stubble  fully  dry."^  The  prophet 
promised  much  spoil  to  the  enemy :  "  Take  the  spoil  of 
silver,  take  the  spoil  of  gold  ;  for  there  is  no  end  of  the 
store  and  glory  out  of  all  the  pleasant  furniture."''  And 
the  historian  affirms,  that  many  talents  of  gold  and  silver 
preserved  from  the  fire,  were  carried  to  Ecbatana.*  Ac- 
cording to  Nahum,  the  city  was  not  only  to  be  destroyed 
by  an  overflowing  flood,  but  the  fire  also  was  to  devour 
it  f  and,  as  Diodorus  relates,  partly  by  water,  partly  by 
fire,  it  was  destroyed.''^ 

>  Nahum  ii.  6,  8,  i.  8. 

2  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  pp.  81,  84.    Univ.  Hist.  vol.  iv.  pp.  305—308. 

3  Nahum  i.  10.  4  Nahum  ii.  9. 

*  Diod.  p.  87.  "  The  two  armies,"  says  Rollin,  after  quoting 
this  prophecy,  "enriched  themselves  with  the  spoils  of  Nineveh." 
Vol.  ii.  p.  103.     Bishop  Newton. 

6  Nahum  iii.  15. 

7  See  Bishop  Newton's  Dissertation  ix.  Nmeveh,  which  first 
led  Israel  captive,  was  the  first  city  of  the  gentiles  that  met  its 
predicted  fate.  The  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies  concerning  it, 
which  are  all  contained  in  the  short  book  of  Nahum,  and  in  three 
verses  of  Zephaniah,  was  too  remarkable  to  pass  unnoticed  in  the 
earliest  ages  of  our  era.  Josephus,  after  briefly  describing  the 
reign  of  Jotham,  states,  that  "  there  was  at  that  time  a  prophet, 
named  Nahum,  who  prophesied  thus  of  the  catastrophe  or  over- 
throw of  Nineveh,  '  Nineveh  shall  be  a  pool  of  water  agitated,' 
&c.^ahum  ii.  8 — 13;  and  he  adds,  that  the  prophet  foretold  many 
other  things  which  it  was  unnecessary  for  him  to  repeat,  and 


240  ^  NINEVEH. 

The  utter  and  perpetual  destruction  and  desolation  oi 
Nineveh  were  foretold  :  "  The  Lord  will  make  an  uttei 
end  of  the  place  thereof.  Affliction  shall  not  rise  up  the 
second  time.  She  is  empty,  and  void,  and  waste.  The 
Lord  will  stretch  out  his  hand  against  the  north,  and 
destroy  Assyria,  and  will  make  Nineveh  a  desolation, 
and  dry  like  a  wilderness.  How  is  she  become  a  deso- 
lation, a  place  for  beasts  to  lie  down  in  !"*  In  the 
second  century,  Lucian,  a  native  of  a  city  on  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates,  testified  that  Nineveh  was  utterly 
perished  ;  that  there  was  no  vestige  of  it  remaining ; 
and  that  none  could  tell  where  once  it  was  situate.' 
This  testimony  of  Lucian,  and  the  lapse  of  many  ages 
during  which  the  place  was  not  known  where  it  stood, 
render  it  at  least  somewhat  doubtful  whether  the  remains 

which  were  all  fulfilled  after  the  lapse  of  a  hundred  and  fifteen 
years."  Ant.  lib.  ix.  c.  xi.  §  3.  Jerome,  (a.  b.  392,)  in  his  preface 
to  the  book  of  Jonah,  relates,  that  both  Hebrew  and  Greek  histo- 
rians recorded  its  overthrow.  (Tom.  vL  c.  399,  390,  ed.  VeneU 
1768.)  And  in  his  commentary  on  Nahum,  he  repeatedly  refers 
to  its  capture  and  spoliation  by  the  Chaldeans,  or  Babylonians, 
in  illustration  of  the  prophecy.  Ibid.  c.  534,  555,  &c.  In  like  man- 
ner, Cyril  of  Alexandria,  (a.  d.  412,)  in  his  commentary  on  the 
the  same  prophecy,  quoted  by  Bochart,  describes  not  only  the  de- 
struction of  Nineveh,  but,  in  terms  analogous  to  those  of  Lucian, 
its  entire  desolation.  Besides  other  intervening  writers,  who  treat 
of  the  subject,  Bochart,  Marsham,  and  Poole,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  adduced  the  testimony  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  who  has  long 
been  the  chief  authority  upon  the  subject,  although  his  testimony 
in  regard  to  the  magnificence  and  subsequent  destruction  of  Nine- 
veh is  corroborated  by  that  of  Herodotus,  Strabo,  Tacitus,  Pliny, 
&c.  The  fall  of  Nineveh  is  described,  and  the  prophecies  both  of 
Nahum  and  Zephaniah,  thereby  illustrated,  are  quoted  or  referred 
to  in  such  well-known  works,  published  in  the  last  century,  as 
Prideaux's  Connections,  (a.  d.  1715,)  Rollin's  Ancient  History, 
(a.  I).  1730,)  The  Universal  History,  (a.  d.  1747,)  and  Bishop 
Newton's  Dissertations  on  the  Prophecies,  (a.  d.  1754,)  the  last 
of  which,  the  latest  and  the  best,  is  referred  to  in  every  edition. 
The  edition  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  from  which  the  facts  were  quoted 
and  the  references  taken,  was  published  forty  years  after  the  last 
of  these  works.  The  facts,  like  the  prophecies,  are  few,  and  are 
all  included  in  a  few  pages,  to  which  the  index  readily  points  in 
every  edition  of  his  works. 

'  Nahum  i.  8,  9,  ii.  10  ;  Zeph.  ii.  13,  14,  15. 

*  Bochart,  Marsham,  Calmet,  Bishop  Newton,  &c. 


NINEVEH.  241 

of  an  ancient  city,  opposite  to  Mosul,  which  have  been 
described  as  such  by  travellers,  be  indeed  those  of  an- 
cient Nineveh.  The  name,  however,  was  attached  to 
the  spot  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventh  century.  The  battle  of  Nineveh 
decided  the  fate  of  Chosroes.  Its  locality  is  thus  de- 
scribed by  Gibbon : — "  The  Romans  boldly  advanced 
from  the  Araxes  to  the  Tigris,  and  the  timid  prudence 
of  Rhazates  was  content  to  follow  them  by  forced 
marches  through  a  desolate  country,  till  he  received  a 
peremptory  mandate  to  risk  the  fate  of  Persia  in  a  deci- 
sive battle.  Eastward  of  the  Tigris,  at  the  end  of  the 
bridge  of  Mosul,  the  great  JVineveh  had  formerly  been 
erected  :  the  city,  and  even  the  ruins  of  the  city  had  long 
since  disappeared ;  the  vacant  space  [empty,  void,  and 
waste']  afforded  a  spacious  field  for  the  operation  of  the 
two  armies,"*  The  great  city  had  become  "the  field" 
of  Nineveh.  An  utter  ruin  had  been  made  of  it  at 
once ;  affliction  did  not  rise  up  a  second  time.  "  One 
thing  is  sufficiently  obvious  to  the  most  careless  ob- 
server," says  Rich,  who  was  himself  a  most  careful 
observer,  "  which  is,  the  equality  of  age  of  all  these 
vestiges.  Whether  they  belonged  to  Nineveh  or  some 
other  city,  is  another  question,  and  one  not  so  easily  de- 
termined ;  but  that  they  are  all  of  the  same  age  and 
character  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt. "^  "  Pottery,  and 
other  Babylonian  fragments" — "  fragments  of  cuneiform 
inscriptions  on  stone,  similar  in  every  respect  to  those 
got  at  Babylon,"^  are  found  in  the  mounds  that  consti- 
tute the  ruins.  In  contrasting  the  then  existing  great 
and  increasing  population,  and  the  accumulating  wealth 
of  the  proud  inhabitants  of  the  mighty  Nineveh,  with 
the  utter  ruin  that  awaited  it, — the  word  of  God  (be- 
fore whom  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are  as  grass- 
hoppers) by  Nahum  was — "  Make  thyself  many  as  the 
canker-worm,  make  thyself  many  as  the  locusts.     Thou 

1  Hist.  vol.  viii.  pp.  250,  251,  c.  46. 

*  Rich's  Residence  in  Koordistan  and  Nineveh,  vol.  ii.  p.  44. 

3  Ibid,  p.  38,  85. 

21 


242  NINEVEH. 

hast  multiplied  tliy  merchants  above  the  stars  of  heaven  : 
the  canker-worm  spoileth  and  fleeth  away.  Thy  crowned 
are  as  the  locusts,  and  thy  captains  as  the  great  grass- 
hoppers which  camp  in  the  hedges  in  the  cold  day ;  but 
when  the  sun  riseth,  they  flee  away ;  and  their  place  is 
not  known  where  they  are,"  or  were.  Whether  these 
words  imply  that  even  the  site  of  Nineveh  would  in 
future  ages  be  uncertain  or  unknown,  or,  as  they  rather 
seem  to  intimate,  that  every  vestige  of  the  palaces  of  its 
monarchs,  of  the  greatness  of  its  nobles,  and  of  the  wealth 
of  its  numerous  merchants,  would  wholly  disappear ;  the 
truth  of  the  prediction  cannot  be  invalidated  under  either 
interpretation.  The  avowed  ignorance  respecting  Nine- 
veh, and  the  oblivion  which  passed  over  it,  for  many  an 
age,  conjoined  with  the  meagerness  of  evidence  to  iden- 
tify it  still,  prove  that  the  place  was  long  unknown 
where  it  stood,  and  that  even  now  it  can  scarcely  with 
certainty  be  determined.  And,  if  the  only  spot  that 
bears  its  name,  or  that  can  be  said  to  be  the  place  where 
it  was,  be  indeed  the  site  of  one  of  the  most  extensive 
of  cities  on  which  the  sun  ever  shone,  and  which  con- 
tinued for  many  centuries  to  be  the  capital  of  Assyria, — 
the  "  principal  mounds,"  few  in  number,  in  many  places 
overgrown  with  grass,  "  resemble  the  mounds  left  by  en- 
trenchments and  fortifications  of  ancient  Roman  camps," 
and  the  appearances  of  other  mounds  and  ruins, less  marked 
than  even  these,  extending  for  ten  miles,  and  widely  spread, 
and  seeming  to  be  "  the  wreck  of  former  buildings,"^ 
show  that  Nineveh  is  left  without  one  monument  of  roy- 
alty, without  any  token  or  memorial  of  its  ancient  splen- 
dour and  magnificence  ;  and  so  entirely  are  the  very  ves- 
tiges of  the  city  in  many  places  swept  away,  that  of  a 
large  space  which  the  plough  has  passed  over  for  ages, 
it  is  said,  "  what  part  was  covered  by  ancient  Nineveh 
it  is  nearly  now  impossible  to  ascertain."^  "  The  coun- 
try," *'  this  uneven  country,"  are  epithets  descriptive  of 
its  supposed  site.     "  In  such  a  country  it  is  not  easy  to 

•  Buckingham's  Travels  in  Mesopotamia,  vol.  ii.  49,  61,  62. 
'  Rich's  Residence  in  Koordistan,  vol.  ii.  p.  53. 


BABYLON.  243 

say  what  are  ruins  and  what  are  not ;  what  is  art  con- 
verted by  the  lapse  of  ages  into  a  semblance  of  nature, 
and  what  is  merely  nature  broken  by  the  hand  of  time 
into  ruins  approaching  in  their  appearance  those  of  art."* 
Of  the  merchants,  that  were  multiplied  above  the  stars 
of  heaven  ;  of  the  crowned  and  of  the  captains  of  the 
great  Nineveh,  it  may  be  said,  that  they  were  as  the 
great  grasshoppers,  which,  camping  in  the  hedges  in  a 
cold  day,  flee  away  on  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  their 
place  is  not  known  where  they  were.  Neither  from  the 
low  grounds,  covered  with  bushes  of  tamarisk,  where  it 
is  not  cultivated,^  nor  from  the  high  country  completely 
covered  with  pebbles,^  could  it  be  known  where  the 
nobles  of  Nineveh  were.  "  The  name  of  Nineveh," 
said  Volney,  "  seems  to  be  threatened  with  the  same 
oblivion  which  has  overtaken  its  greatness."''  The  Lord 
hath  given  a  commandment  concerning  thee,  that  no  more 
of  thy  name  be  sown.  I  will  make  thy  grave,  for  thou 
art  vile.  Dar/cness  shall  pursue  his  enemies.^  The  great 
Nineveh  is  no  more.  No  more  of  its  name  is  sown  :  the 
town  near  to  its  site  is  called  by  another  name.  But  its 
name,  written  in  the  word  of  God,  shall  not  pass  into 
oblivion,  till  tongues  shall  cease  and  prophecy  fail 


BABYLON. 

If  ever  there  was  a  city  that  seemed  to  bid  defiance 
to  any  predictions  of  its  fall,  that  city  was  Babylon.  It 
was  for  a  long  time  the  most  famous  city  in  the  whole 
world. ^  Its  walls,  which  were  reckoned  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world,  appeared  rather  like  the  bulwarks 

'  Rich's  Residence  in  Koordistan,  vol.  ii.  p.  57. 

2  Ibid.  p.  62.  3  Ibid.  p.  59. 

4  Ruins,  c.  8.  *  Nahum  i.  8,  U. 

*  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  v.  cap.  xxvi. 


244  hkBYLOV. 

of  nature  than  the  workmanship  of  man.*  The  temple 
of  Belus,  half  a  mile  in  circumference  and  a  furlong  in 
height ;  the  hanging  gardens,  which,  piled  in  successive 
terraces,  towered  as  high  as  the  walls;  the  embank- 
ments which  restrained  the  Euphrates ;  the  hundred 
brazen  gates ;  and  the  adjoining  artificial  lake  ;  all  dis- 
played many  of  the  mightiest  works  of  mortals  concen- 
trated in  a  single  point."  Yet,  while  in  the  plenitude 
of  its  power,  and,  according  to  the  most  accurate  chro- 
nologers,  160  years  before  the  foot  of  an  enemy  had 
entered  it,  the  voice  of  prophecy  pronounced  the  doom 
of  the  mighty  and  unconquered  Babylon.  A  succession 
of  ages  brought  it  gradually  to  the  dust ;  and  the  grada- 
tion of  its  fall  is  marked  till  it  sunk  at  last  into  utter 
desolation.  At  a  time  when  nothing  but  magnificence 
was  around  Babylon  the  great,  fallen  Babylon  was  deli- 
neated exactly  as  every  traveller  now  describes  its  ruins. 
And  the  prophecies  concerning  it  may  be  viewed  con- 

'  The  extent  of  the  walls  of  Babylon  is  variously  stated,  by 
Herodotus  at  480  stadia,  or  furlongs,  in  circumference ;  by  Pliny 
and  Solinus  at  sixty  Roman  miles,  or  of  equal  extent;  by  Strabo 
at  385  stadia :  by  Diodorus  Siculus,  according  to  the  slightly  dif- 
ferent testimony  of  Ctesias  and  Clitarchus,  both  of  whom  visited 
Babylon,  at  360  or  365;  and  to  the  last  of  these  statements  that 
of  Quintus  Curtius  nearly  corresponds,  viz.  368.  The  difference 
of  a  few  stadia  rather  confirms  than  disproves  the  general  accu- 
racy of  the  last  three  of  these  accounts.  There  may  have  been 
an  error  in  the  text  of  Herodotus  of  480,  instead  of  380,  which 
Pliny  and  Solinus  may  have  copied.  The  variation  of  20  or  25 
stadia,  in  excess,  may  have  been  caused  by  the  line  of  measure- 
ment having  been  the  outside  of  the  trench,  and  not  immediately 
of  the  wall.  And  thus  the  various  statements  may  be  brought 
nearly  to  correspond.  Major  Rennel,  estimating  the  stadium  at 
491  feet,  computes  the  extent  of  the  wall  at  34  miles,  or  eight  and 
a  half  on  each  side.  The  opposite  and  contradictory  statements 
of  the  height  and  breadth  of  the  wall  may  possibly  be  best  recon- 
ciled on  the  supposition  that  they  refer  to  different  periods.  He- 
rodotus states  the  height  to  have  been  200  cubits,  or  300  feet,  and 
-he  breadth  50  cubits,  75  feet.  According  to  Curtius,  the  height 
was  130  feet,  and  the  breadth  32 ;  while  Strabo  states  the  height 
at  75  feet,  and  the  breadth  at  32  feet. 

2  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  clxxviii ;  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  p.  26.  (Calmet.) 
Plin.  lib.  V.  xxvi. ;  Quintus  Curtius,  lib.  v.  c.  iv.  See  Prideaux, 
RoUin,  ice. 


BABYLON.  245 

nectedly  from  the  period  of  their  earliest  to  that  of  their 
latest  fulfilment. 

The  immense  fertility  of  Chaldea,  which  retained  also 
the  name  of  Babylonia  till  after  the  Christian  era/  cor- 
responded, if  that  of  any  country  could  vie,  with  the 
greatness  of  Babylon.  It  was  the  most  fertile  region  of 
the  whole  east.^  Babylonia  was  one  vast  plain,  adorned 
and  enriched  by  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  from 
which,  and  from  the  numerous  canals  that  intersected  the 
country  from  the  one  river  to  the  other,  water  was  dis- 
tributed over  the  fields  by  manual  labour  and  by  hydrau- 
lic machines,^  gi^ij^g  rise,  in  that  warm  climate,  and  rich, 
exhaustless  soil,  to  an  exuberance  of  produce  without  a 
known  parallel,  over  so  extensive  a  region,  either  in  an- 
cient or  modern  times.  Herodotus  states,  that  he  knew 
not  how  to  speak  of  its  wonderful  fertility,  which  none 
but  eye-witnesses  would  credit ;  and,  though  writing  in 
the  language  of  Greece,  itself  a  fertile  country,  he  ex- 
presses his  own  consciousness  that  his  description  of 
what  he  actually  saw  would  appear  to  be  improbable, 
and  to  exceed  belief.  In  his  estimation,  as  well  as  in  that 
of  Strabo  and  of  Pliny,  (the  three  best  ancient  authori- 
ties that  can  be  given,)  Babylonia  was  of  all  countries 
the  most  fertile  in  corn,  the  soil  never  producing  less,  as 
he  relates,  than  two  hundredfold,  an  amount,  in  our 
colder  regions,  scarcely  credible,  though  Strabo,  the 
first  of  ancient  geographers,  agrees  with  the  "  father  of 
history"  in  recording  that  it  reached  even  to  three  hun- 
dred, the  grain,  too,  being  of  prodigious  size.*  After 
being  subjected  to  Persia,  the  government  of  Chaidea 
was  accounted  the  noblest  in  the  Persian  empire.*  Be- 
sides supplying  horses  for  military  service,  it  maintained 
about  seventeen  thousand  horses  for  the  sovereign's  use. 
And,  exclusive  of  monthly  subsidies,  the  supply  from 

1  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  743. 

2  "  Agrum  totius  orientis  fertilissimum."  (Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib. 
V.  c.  xxvi.) 

3  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxcii. 

^  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxcii ;  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  742. 
*  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxcii. 

21* 


246  BABYLON. 

Chaldea  (including  perhaps  Syria)  for  the  subsistence  of 
the  king  and  of  his  army,  amounted  to  a  third  part  of  all 
that  was  levied  from  the  whole  of  the  Persian  dominions, 
which  at  that  time  extended  from  the  Hellespont  to  In- 
dia.^ Herodotus  incidentally  mentions  that  there  were 
four  great  towns  in  the  vicinity 'of  Babylon. 

Such  was  the  "  Chaldee's  excellency,"  that  it  de- 
parted not  on  the  first  conquest,  nor  on  the  final  extinction 
of  its  capital,  but  one  metropolis  of  Assyria  arose  after 
another  in  the  land  of  Chaldea,  when  Babylon  had  ceased 
to  be  "  the  glory  of  kingdoms."  The  celebrated  city  of 
Seleucia,  whose  ruins  attest  its  former  greatness,  was 
founded  and  built  by  Seleucus  Nicator,  king  of  Assyria, 
one  of  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great,  in  the  year 
before  Christ  293, — three  centuries  after  Jeremiah  pro- 
phesied. In  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  it  con- 
tained six  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.^  The  Parthian 
kings  transferred  the  seat  of  empire  to  Ctesiphon,  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  Tigris,  where  they  resided  in  win- 
ter ;  and  that  city,  formerly  a  village,  became  great  and 
powerful.'  Six  centuries  after  the  latest  of  the  predic- 
tions, Chaldea  could  also  boast  of  other  great  cities,^ 
such  as  Artemita  and  Sitacene,  besides  many  towns. 
When  invaded  by  Julian,  it  was,  as  described  by  Gib- 
bon, a  "  fruitful  and  pleasant  country."  And,  at  a 
period  equally  distant  from  the  time  of  the  prophets  and 
fi-om  the  present  day,  in  the  seventh  century,  Chaldea 
was  the  scene  of  vast  magnificence,  in  the  reign  of 
Chosroes.  "His  favourite  residence  of  Artemita  or 
Destagered,  was  situated  beyond  the  Tigris,  about  sixty 
miles  to  the  north  of  the  capital  (Ctesiphon.)  The  adja- 
cent pastures,"  in  the  words  of  Gibbon,  "  were  covered 
with  flocks  and  herds ;  the  paradise,  or  park,  was  re- 
plenished with  pheasants,  peacocks,  ostriches,  roebucks, 
and  wild  boars ;  and  the  noble  game  of  lions  and  tigers 
was  sometimes  turned  loose  for  the  golden  pleasures  of 
the  chase.      Nine   hundred   and   sixty  elephants  were 

Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxcii.  '  Plin.  lib.  vi.  c.  xxvi. 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  743.  <  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  744. 


BABYLON.  247 

maintained  for  the  use  and  splendour  of  the  great  king , 
his  tents  and  baggage  were  carried  into  the  field  by 
twelve  thousand  great  camels,  and  eight  thousand  of  a 
smaller  size  ;  and  the  royal  stables  were  filled  with  six 
thousand  mules  and  horses.  Six  thousand  guards  suc- 
cessively mounted  before  the  palace  gate,  and  the  service 
of  the  interior  apartments  was  performed  by  twelve 
thousand  slaves.  The  various  treasures  of  gold,  silver, 
gems,  silk,  and  aromatics,  were  deposited  in  a  hundred 
subterranean  vaults."*  "  In  the  eighth  century  the 
town  of  Samarah,  Horounieh,  and  Djasserik,  formed,  so 
to  speak,  one  street  of  twenty-eight  miles.  "^  Chaldea, 
with  its  rich  soil  and  warm  climate,  and  intersected  by 
the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  was  one  of  the  last  countries 
m  the  world,  of  which  the  desolation  could  have  been 
thought  of  by  man.  For  to  this  day  "  there  cannot  be 
a  doubt  that,  if  proper  means  were  taken,  the  country 
would  with  ease  be  brought  into  a  high  state  of  culti- 
vation."^ 

Manifold  are  the  prophecies  respecting  Babylon  and 
the  land  of  the  Chaldeans  ;  and  the  long  lapse  of  ages 
has  served  to  confirai  their  fulfilment  in  every  particular, 
and  to  render  it  at  last  complete.  The  judgments  of 
Heaven  are  not  casual,  but  sure  ;  they  are  not  arbitrary, 
but  righteous.  And  they  were  denounced  against  the 
Babylonians,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Chaldea,  expressly 
because  of  their  idolatry,  tyranny,  oppression,  pride, 
covetousness,  drunkenness,  falsehood,  and  other  wick- 
edness. So  debasing  and  iDrutifying  was  their  idolatry, 
— or  so  much  did  they  render  the  name  of  religion  sub- 
servient to  their  passions, — that  practices  the  most 
abominable,  which  were  universal  among  them,  formed 

'  Gibbon's  History,  vol.  viii.  c.  46,  p.  227,  228. 

2  Malte-Brun's  Geography,  vol.  ii.  p.  119.  Historical  documents 
are  not  wanting  to  prove  that  the  richness  of  Chaldea,  down  to 
the  time  of  the  Arabian  califs,  was  such  as  to  give  the  charm  of 
truth  (which,  indeed,  it  is  generally  admitted  that. they  possess) 
lo  many  of  the  splendid  descriptions  which  abound  in  the  other- 
wise fictitious  narratives  of  the  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments. 

3  Bombay  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  i.  p.  124. 


248  BABYLON. 

the  very  observance  of  some  of  their  religious  rites,  of 
which  even  heathen  writers  could  not  speak  but  in  terms 
of  indignation  and  abhorrence.  Though  enriched  with 
a  prodigality  of  blessings,  the  glory  of  God  was  not  re- 
garded by  the  Chaldeans;  and,  all  the  glory  of  man, 
with  which  the  plain  of  Shinar  was  covered,  has  become, 
in  consequence  as  well  as  in  chastisement  of  prevailing 
vices  and  of  continued  though  diversified  crimes,  the 
wreck,  the  ruin,  and  utter  desolation  which  the  word  of 
God  (for  whose  word  but  his  ?)  thus  told  from  the  begin- 
ning that  the  event  would  be. 

"  The  burden  of  Babylon,  which  Isaiah  the  son  of 
Amos  did  see.  The  noise  of  a  multitude  in  the  moun- 
tains, like  as  of  a  great  people  ;  a  tumultuous  noise  of 
the  kingdoms  of  nations  gathered  together ;  the  Lord  of 
hosts  mustereth  the  host  of  the  battle.  They  come  from 
a  far  country,  from  the  end  of  heaven,  even  the  Lord, 
and  the  weapons  of  his  indignation,  to  destroy  the  whole 
land.  Behold,  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh,  cruel  both 
with  wrath  and  fierce  anger,  to  lay  the  land  desolate  ; 
and  he  shall  destroy  the  sinners  thereof  out  of  it.  It 
shall  be  as  the  chased  roe,  and  as  a  sheep  that  no  man 
taketh  up :  they  shall  every  man  turn  to  his  own  people, 
and  flee  every  one  into  his  own  land.  Every  one  that 
is  found  shall  be  thrust  through  ;  and  every  one  that  is 
joined  unto  them  shall  fall  by  the  sword.  Behold  I 
will  stir  up  the  Medes  against  them,  which  shall  not 
regard  silver  ;  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in 
it.  Their  bows  also  shall  dash  the  young  men  to  pieces ; 
and  they  shall  have  no  pity  on  the  fruit  of  the  womb ; 
their  eye  shall  not  spare  children.  And  Babylon,  the 
glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldees'  excel- 
lency, shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah. It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be 
dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation  ;  neither  shall  the 
Arabian  pitch  tent  there;  neither  shall  the  shepherds 
make  their  fold  there  ;  but  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall 
lie  there ;  and  their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  crea- 
tures ;  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall  dance 


BABYLON.  249 

there.  And  the  wild  beasts  of  the  islands  shall  cry  in 
their  desolate  houses,  and  dragons  in  their  pleasant  pa- 
laces."^ "  Thou  shalt  take  up  this  proverb  against  the 
king  of  Babylon,  and  say.  How  hath  the  oppressor 
ceased !  the  golden  city  ceased !  Thy  pomp  is  brought 
down  to  the  grave,  and  the  noise  of  thy  viols  :  the  worm 
is  spread  under  thee,  and  the  worms  cover  thee.  Thou 
shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell,  to  the  sides  of  the  pit. 
Thou  art  cast  out  of  thy  grave  like  an  abominable  branch. 
I  will  cut  off  from  Babylon  the  name,  and  remnant,  and 
son,  and  nephew,  saith  the  Lord.  I  will  also  make  it  a 
possession  for  the  bittern  and  pools  of  water ;  and  I  will 
sweep  it  with  the  besom  of  destruction,  saith  the  Lord 
of  hosts.  "2  "  Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen;  and  all  the 
graven  images  of  her  gods,  he  hath  broken  unto  the 
ground."^  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  that  saith  unto  the 
deep,  be  dry ;  and  I  will  dry  up  thy  rivers ;  that  saith 
of  Cyrus,  he  is  my  shepherd,  and  shall  perform  all  my 
pleasure, — and  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings,  to  open 
before  him  the  two-leaved  gates  ;  and  the  gates  shall  not 
be  shut."*  "  Bel  boweth  down,"^  &c.  "-  Come  down 
and  sit  in  the  dust,  O  virgin  daughter  of  Babylon ;  sit 
on  the  ground  :  there  is  no  throne,  O  daughter  of  the 
Chaldeans.  Sit  thou  silent,  and  get  thee  into  darkness, 
O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans  ;  for  thou  shalt  no  more  be 
called  The  lady  of  kingdoms.  Thou  hast  said,  I  shall 
be  a  lady  for  ever.  Hear  now  this,  thou  that  art  given 
to  pleasures,  that  dwellest  carelessly ;  that  sayest  in  thine 
heart,  I  am,  and  none  else  besides  me ;  I  shall  not  sit  as 
a  widow,  neither  shall  I  know  the  loss  of  children.  But 
these  two  things  shall  come  to  thee  in  a  moment  in  one 
day,  the  loss  of  children,  and  widowhood :  they  shall 
come  upon  thee  in  their  perfection,  for  the  multitude  of 
thy  sorceries,  and  for  the  great  abundance  of  thine  en- 
chantments. For  thou  hast  trusted  in  thy  wickedness," 
&c.  "  Therefore  shall  evil  come  upon  thee  ;  thou  shalt 
not  know  from  whence  it  riseth  :  and  mischief  shall  fall 

1  Isa.  xiii.  1,4,  5,  9,  14—22.  2  isa.  xiv.  4,  11,  15,  19,  22,  23. 

^  Isa.  xxi.  9.  *  Isa.  xhv.  27,  28,  xlv.  1.  «  Isa.  xlvi.  1. 


250  BABYLON. 

upon  thee  ;  thou  shalt  not  be  able  to  put  it  off:  and 
desolation  shall  come  upon  thee  suddenly,  which  thou 
shalt  not  know."* 

"  I  will  punish  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  will 
make  it  perpetual  desolations.  And  I  will  bring  upon 
that  land  all  my  words  which  I  have  pronounced  against 
it,  even  all  that  is  written  in  this  book,  which  Jeremiah 
hath  prophesied  against  all  the  nations.  For  many  na- 
tions and  great  kings  shall  serve  themselves  of  them 
also  :  and  I  will  recompense  them  according  to  their 
deeds,  and  according  to  the  works  of  their  own  hands."^ 
"  The  word  that  the  Lord  spake  against  Babylon,  and 
against  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  by  Jeremiah  the  pro- 
phet. Declare  ye  among  the  nations,  and  publish,  and 
set  up  a  standard  ;  publish,  and  conceal  not ;  say,  Baby- 
lon is  taken,  Bel  is  confounded,  Merodach  is  broken  in 
pieces  ;  her  idols  are  confounded,  her  images  are  broken 
in  pieces.  For  out  of  the  north  there  cometh  up  a  nation 
against  her,  which  shall  make  her  land  desolate,  and 
none  shall  dwell  therein ;  they  shall  remove,  they  shall 
depart,  both  man  and  beast."^  "  For,  lo,  I  will  raise 
and  cause  to  come  up  against  Babylon  an  assembly  of 
great  nations  from  the  north  country :  and  they  shall  set 
themselves  in  array  against  her ;  from  thence  she  shall 
be  taken ;  their  arrows  shall  be  as  of  a  mighty  expert 
man  ;  none  shall  return  in  vain.  And  Chaldea  shall  be 
a  spoil;  all  that  spoil  her  shall  be  satisfied,  saith  the 
Lord.  Behold,  the  hindermost  of  the  nations  shall  be  a 
wilderness,  a  dry  land,  and  a  desert.  Because  of  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord  it  shall  not  be  inhabited,  but  it  shall 
be  wholly  desolate :  every  one  that  goeth  by  Babylon 
shall  be  astonished,  and  hiss  at  all  her  plagues."'*  "  Her 
foundations  are  fallen,  her  walls  are  thrown  down  ;  for 
it  is  the  vengeance  of  the  Lord  ;  take  vengeance  upon 
'ler ;  as  she  hath  done,  do  unto  her.  Cut  off  the  sower 
Tom  Babylon,  and  him  that  handleth  the  sickle  in  the 
dme  of  harvest :  for  fear  of  the  oppressing  sword  they 

'  Isa.  xlvii.  1,  5,  7—11.  ?  Jer.  xxv.  12—14. 

»  Jei.  1.  1  2,  3.  <  Jer.  1.  9,  10,  12,  18. 


BABYLON.  251 

shall  turn  every  one  to  his  people,  and  they  shall  flee 
every  one  to  his  own  land."'  "  Go  up  against  the  land 
of  JVIerathaim,  even  against  it,  and  against  the  inhabitants 
of  Pekod ;  waste  and  utterly  destroy  after  them.  A 
sound  of  battle  is  in  the  land,  and  of  great  destruction. 
How  is  the  hammer  of  the  whole  earth  cut  asunder  and 
broken !  how  is  Babylon  become  a  desolation  among  the 
nations !  I  have  laid  a  snare  for  thee,  and  thou  art  also 
taken,  0  Babylon,  and  thou  wast  not  aware ;  thou  art 
found,  and  also  caught,  because  thou  hast  striven  against 
the  Lord.  The  Lord  hath  opened  his  armoury,  and 
hath  brought  forth  the  weapons  of  his  indignation :  for 
this  is  the  work  of  the  Lord  God  of  hosts  in  the  land 
of  the  Chaldeans.  Come  against  her  from  the  utmost 
border,  open  her  store-houses  ;  cast  her  up  as  heaps,  and 
destroy  her  utterly  ;  let  nothing  of  her  be  left."^  "  The 
voice  of  them  that  flee  and  escape  out  of  the  land  of 
Babylon,  to  declare  in  Zion  the  vengeance  of  the  Lord 
our  God,  the  vengeance  of  his  temple.  Call  together 
the  archers  against  Babylon :  all  ye  that  bend  the  bow, 
camp  against  her  round  about :  let  none  thereof  escape  : 
recompense  her  according  to  her  work ;  according  to  all 
that  she  hath  done,  do  unto  her :  for  she  hath  been  proud 
against  the  Lord,  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  There- 
fore shall  her  young  men  fall  in  the  streets,  and  all  her 
men  of  war  shall  be  cut  off'  in  that  day,  saith  the  Lord. 
Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  0  thou  most  proud,  saith  the 
Lord  God  of  hosts :  for  thy  day  is  come,  the  time  that  I 
will  visit  thee.  And  the  most  proud  shall  stumble  and 
fall,  and  none  shall  raise  him  up :  and  I  will  kindle  a 
fire  in  his  cities,  and  it  shall  devour  all  round  about 
jjjjjj  j>3  ic^  sword  is  upon  the  Chaldeans,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Babylon,  and  upon  her  princes, 
and  upon  her  wise  men.  A  sword  is  upon  the  liars  ;  a 
sword  is  upon  her  mighty  men  ;  a  sword  is  upon  their 
horses,  and  upon  their  chariots,  and  upon  all  the  mingled 
people  that  are  in  the  midst  of  her,  and  they  shall  become 
as  women;  a  sword  is  upon  her  treasures,  and  they  shall  be 
«  Jer.  1. 15,  16.  -'  Jer.  1.  21—26.  3^Jer.  1.  28—32. 


252  BABYLON. 

robbed.     A  drought  is  upon  her  waters ;  and  they  shall 
be  dried  up ;  for  it  is  the  land  of  graven  images,  and 
they  are  mad  upon  their  idols.      Therefore   the  wild 
beasts  of  the  desert,  with  the  wild  beasts  of  the  islands, 
shall  dwell  there,  and  the  owls  shall  dwell  therein ;  and 
it  shall  be  no  more  inhabited  fo'r  ever ;  neither  shall  it 
be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation.     As  God 
overthrew  Sodom   and  Gomorrah,  and   the  neighboui 
cities  thereof,  saith  the  Lord  ;  so  shall  no  man  abide 
there,  neither  shall  any  son  of  man  dwell  therein.     Be- 
hold, a  people  shall  come  from  the  north,  and  a  great 
nation,  and  many  kings  shall  be  raised  up  from  the 
coasts  of  the  earth.     They  shall  hold  the  bow  and  the 
lance ;  they  are  cruel  and  will  not  show  mercy  ;  their 
voice  shall  roar  like  the  sea,  and  they  shall  ride  on 
horses,  every  one  put  in  array,  like  a  man  to  the  battle, 
against  thee,  0  daughter  of  Babylon.     The  king  of 
Babylon  hath  heard  the  report  of  them,  and  his  hands 
waxed  feeble  :  anguish  took  hold  of  him,  and  pangs  as 
of  a  woman  in  travail.     Behold,  he  shall  come  up  like 
a  lion  from  the  swelling  of  Jordan  unto  the  habitation 
of  the  strong ;  but  I  will  make  them  suddenly  run  away 
from  her  ;  and  who  is  a  chosen  man,  that  I  may  appoint 
over  her  ?     For  who  is  like  me  ?  and  who  will  appoint 
me  the  time  ?  and  who  is  that  shepherd  that  will  stand 
before  me  ?     Therefore  hear  ye  the  counsel  of  the  Lord, 
that  he  hath  taken  against  Babylon,  and  his  purposes 
that  he  hath  purposed  against  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans ; 
surely  the  least  of  the  flock  shall  draw  them  out ;  surely 
he  shall  make  their  habitation  desolate  with  them.*     I 
will  send  unto  Babylon  fanners,  that  shall  fan  her,  and 
shall  empty  her  land,  for  in  the  day  of  trouble  they  shall 
be  against  her  round  about.     Against  him  that  bendeth 
let  the  archer  bend  his  bow,  and  against  him  that  lifteth 
himself  up  in  his  brigantine  :  and  spare  ye  not  her  young 
men ;  destroy  ye  utterly  all  her  host.     Thus  the  slain 
shall  fall  in  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  they  that  are 
thrust  through  in  her  streets,  &c.     Babylon  is  suddenly 
1  Jer.  1.  35—46. 


BABYLON.  253 

fallen  and  destroyed :  howl  for  her ;  take  balm  for  her 
pain,  if  so  she  may  be  healed.  We  would  have  healed 
Babylon,  but  she  is  not  healed :  forsake  her,  and  let  us 
go  every  one  unto  his  own  country ;  for  her  judgment 
reacheth  unto  heaven,  and  is  lifted  up  even  to  the  skies.* 
The  Lord  hath  raised  up  the  spirit  of  the  kings  of  the 
Medes;  for  his  device  is  against  Babylon  to  destroy 
it,  &c.  0  thou  that  dwellest  upon  many  waters,  abun- 
dant in  treasures,  thine  end  is  come,  and  the  measure  of 
thy  covetousness.  The  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn  by 
himself,  saying.  Surely  I  will  fill  thee  with  men,  as  with 
caterpillars ;  and  they  shall  lift  up  a  shout  against  thee.^ 
Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  O  destroying  mountain,  saith 
the  Lord,  which  destroyest  all  the  earth  ;  and  I  will  stretch 
out  my  hand  upon  thee,  and  roll  thee  down  from  the 
rocks,  and  I  will  make  thee  a  burnt  mountain.  Set  up  a 
standard  in  the  land,  blow  the  trumpet  among  the  nations, 
prepare  the  nations  against  her ;  call  together  against  her 
the  kingdoms  of  Ararat,  Minni,  and  Aschenaz ;  prepare 
against  her  the  nations,  with  the  kings  of  the  Medes,  the 
captains  thereof,  and  all  the  rulers  thereof,  and  all  the  land 
of  his  dominion.  And  the  land  shall  tremble  and  sor- 
row ;  for  every  purpose  of  the  Lord  shall  be  performed 
against  Babylon,  to  make  the  land  of  Babylon  a  desola- 
tion without  an  inhabitant.  The  mighty  men  of  Baby- 
lon have  forborne  to  fight,  they  have  remained  in  their 
holds  ;  their  might  hath  failed  ;  they  became  as  women  ; 
they  have  burnt  her  dwelling-places ;  her  bars  are 
broken.  One  post  shall  run  to  meet  another,  and  one 
messenger  to  meet  another,  to  show  the  king  of  Babylon 
that  his  city  is  taken  at  one  end,  and  that  the  passages 
are  stopped.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of 
Israel,  The  daughter  of  Babylon  is  like  a  threshing-floor : 
it  is  time  to  thresh  her ;  yet  a  little  while,  and  the  time 
of  her  harvest  shall  come.^  I  will  dry  up  her  sea,  and 
make  her  springs  dry.  And  Babylon  shall  become 
heaps,  a  dweUing-place  for  dragons,  an  astonishment, 

»  Jer.  li.  2,  4,  8,  9.  2  jgr.  li.  H,  13,  14. 

3  Jer.  li.  25,  27—33. 

22 


254  BABYLON. 

and  an  hissing,  without  an  inhabitant.  In  their  heat  I 
will  make  their  feasts,  that  they  may  sleep  a  perpetual 
sleep,  and  not  wake.  How  is  the  praise  of  the  whole 
earth  surprised !  How  is  Babylon  become  an  astonish- 
ment among  the  nations!  The  sea  is  come  up  upon 
Babylon:  she  is  covered  with  the  multitude  of  the 
waves  thereof.  Her  cities  are  a  desolation,  a  dry  land 
and  a  wilderness,  a  land  wherein  no  man  dwelleth,  nei- 
ther doth  any  son  of  man  pass  thereby.  And  I  will 
punish  Bel  in  Babylon  ;  and  I  will  bring  forth  out  of  his 
mouth  that  which  he  hath  swallowed  up :  and  the  na- 
tions shall  not  flow  together  any  more  unto  him ;  yea  the 
wall  of  Babylon  shall  fall.  A  rumour  shall  come  one 
year,  and  after  that  in  another  year  shall  come  a  rumour, 
and  violence  in  the  land,  ruler  against  ruler.  Therefore, 
behold,  the  days  come  that  I  will  do  judgment  upon  the 
graven  images  of  Babylon ;  and  her  whole  land  shall  be 
confounded,  and  all  her  slain  shall  fall  in  the  midst  of 
her,  &c.*  And  I  will  make  drunk  her  princes,  and  her  wise 
men,  her  captains,  and  her  rulers,  and  her  mighty  men ; 
and  they  shall  sleep  a  perpetual  sleep,  and  not  wake, 
saith  the  King,  whose  name  is  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  The  broad  walls  of  Babylon 
shall  be  utterly  broken,  and  her  high  gates  shall  be  burnt 
with  fire ;  and  the  people  shall  labour  in  vain,  and  the 
folk  in  the  fire,  and  they  shall  be  weary.  And  it  shall 
be,  when  thou  hast  made  an  end  of  reading  this  book, 
that  thou  shalt  bind  a  stone  to  it,  and  cast  it  into  the 
midst  of  Euphrates :  and  thou  shalt  say.  Thus  shall 
Babylon  sink,  and  shall  not  rise  from  the  evil  that  I  will 
bring  upon  her."* 

The  enemies  who  were  to  besiege  Babylon — the  cow- 
ardice of  the  Babylonians — the  manner  in  which  the  city 
was  taken,  and  all  the  remarkable  circumstances  of  the 
siege,  were  foretold  and  described  by  the  prophets  as  the 
facts  are  related  by  ancient  historians. 

Go  up,  0  Elam  (or  Persia)  besiege,  0  Media !     The 

'  Jer.  li.  36,  37,  39,  41—44,  46,  47. 
2Jer.li.  67,  58,63,64. 


BABYLON.  255 


Lord  hath  raised  up  the  spirit  of  the  kings  of  the  Medes, 
for  his  device  is  against  Babylon  to  destroy  it.^  The 
kings  of  Persia  and  Media,  prompted  by  a  common 
interest,  freely  entered  into  a  league  against  Babylon, 
and  with  one  accord  intrusted  the  command  of  their 
united  armies  to  Cyrus,^  the  relative  and  eventually  the 
successor  of  them  both.  But  the  taking  of  Babylon  was 
not  reserved  for  these  kingdoms  alone  :  other  nations  had 
to  be  prepared  against  her. 

Set  up  a  standard  in  the  land  ;  blow  the  trumpet  among 
the  nations^  prepare  the  nations  against  her,  call  together 
against  her  the  kingdoms  of  Ararat,  Mimii,  and  Asche- 
naz.  Lo,  I  will  raise,  and  cause  to  come  up  against 
Babylon,  an  assembly  of  great  notions  from  the  north 
country,  &c.^  Cyrus  subdued  the  Armenians,  who  had 
revolted  against  Media,  spared  their  king,  bound  them 
over  anew  to  their  allegiance,  by  kindness  rather  than 
by  force,  and  incorporated  their  army  with  his  own.*  He 
adopted  the  Hyrcanians,  who  had  rebelled  against  Baby- 
lon, as  allies  and  confederates  with  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians.* He  conquered  the  united  forces  of  the  Babylo- 
nians and  Lydians,  took  Sardis,  with  Croesus  and  all  his 
wealth,  spared  his  life,  after  he  was  at  the  stake,  restored 
to  him  his  family  and  his  household,  received  him  into 
the  number  of  his  counsellors  and  friends,  and  thus  pre- 
pared the  Lydians,  over  whom  he  reigned,  and  who  were 
formerly  combined  with  Babylon,  for  coming  up  against 
it.^  He  overthrew  also  the  Phrygians  and  Cappadocians, 
and  added  their  armies  in  like  manner  to  his  accumu- 
lating forces.''  And  by  successive  alHances  and  con- 
quests, by  proclaiming  liberty  to  the  slaves,  by  a  humane 
policy,  consummate  skill,  a  pure  and  noble  disinterested- 

1  Jackson  (Dr.  Thos.),  Grotius,  Poole,  Prideaux,  Lowth,  Rollin, 
Bishop  Newton,  &c.  &c. 

2  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  lib.  i.  c.  v.  p.  53,  ed.  Hutch.  Glasg.  1821. 
^  Jackson,  Grotius,  Poole,  &c.  «&c. 

''  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  lib.  iii.  c.  i.  p.  156. 
«  Ibid.  lib.  iv.  c.  ii.  pp.  215,  217. 
s  Ibid  lib.  V.  c.  ii.  pp.  408 — 416. 
^  Ibid.  lib.  vii.  c.  iv.  pp.  427,  428. 


266  BABYLON. 

ness,  and  a  boundless  generosity,  he  changed,  within  the 
space  of  twenty  years,  a  confederacy  which  the  king  of 
Babylon  had  raised  up  against  the  Medes  and  Persians, 
whose  junction  he  feared,  into  a  confederacy  even  of 
the  same  nations,  against  Babylon  itself; — and  thus 
a  standard  was  set  up  against' Babylon  in  many  a  land, 
kingdo-ms  were  summoned,  prepared,  and  gathered  toge- 
ther against  her ;  and  an  assernhly  of  great  nations  from 
the  north, — including  Ararat  and  Minni,  or  the  greater 
and  lesser  Armenia,  and  Aschenaz,  or  according  to  Bochart, 
Phrygia, — loere  raised  up  and  caused  to  come  against 
Babylon.  Without  their  aid,  and  before  they  were  sub- 
jected to  his  authority,  he  had  attempted  in  vain  to  con- 
quer Babylon ;  but  when  he  had  prepared  and  gathered 
them  together,  it  was  taken,  though  by  artifice  more  than 
by  power. 

They  shall  hold  the.  bow  and  the  lance — they  shall  ride 
upon  horses — let  the  archer  bend  his  bow — all  ye  that  bend 
the  bow  shoot  at  her.  They  rode  upon  horses.  Forty 
thousand  Persian  horsemen  were  armed  from  among  the 
nations  which  Cyrus  subdued ;  many  horses  of  the 
captives  were  besides  distributed  among  all  the  allies. 
And  Cyrus  came  up  against  Babylon  with  a  great 
multitude  of  horses  •/  and  also  with  a  great  multitude 
of  archers  and  javelin-men,^  that  held  the  bow  and  the 
lance. 

No  sooner  had  Cyrus  reached  Babylon,  with  the  na- 
tions which  he  had  prepared,  and  gathered  against  her, 
than  in  the  hope  of  discovering  some  point  not  utterly 
impregnable,  accompanied  by  his  chief  officers  and 
friends  he  rode  around  the  walls,  and  examined  them  on 
every  side,  after  having  for  that  purpose  stationed  his 
whole  army  round  the  city.^  They  camped  against  it 
round  about.  They  put  themselves  in  array  against  Baby- 
Ion  round  about. 

Fnistrated  in  the  attempt  to  discover,  throughout  the 
whole  <ircvmference,  a  single  assailable  point,  and  find- 

'  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  lib.  vii.  c.  iv.  p.  428. 
'  Ibid.  p.  429.  »  Ibid.  c.  v. 


BABYLON.  267 

ing  that  it  was  not  possible,  by  any  attack,  to  make  him- 
self master  of  walls  so  strong  and  so  high,  and  fearing 
that  his  army  would  be  exposed  to  the  assault  of  the 
Babylonians  by  a  too  extended  and  consequently  weak- 
ened line ;  Cyrus,  standing  in  the  middle  of  his  army, 
gave  orders  that  the  heavy  armed  men  should  move,  in 
opposite  directions,  from  each  extremity  towards  the  cen- 
tre ;  and  the  horse  and  light  armed  men  being  nearer 
and  advancing  first,  and  the  phalanx  being  doubled  and 
closed  up,  the  bravest  troops  thus  occupied  alike  the  front 
and  the  rear,  and  the  less  effective  were  stationed  in  the 
middle.^  Such  a  disposition  of  the  army,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  Xenophon,  himself  a  most  skilful  general,  was 
well  adapted  both  for  fighting  and  preventing  flight; 
while  the  Christian,  judging  differently  of  their  succes- 
sive movements,  may  here  see  the  fulfilment  of  one  pre- 
diction after  another.  For,  as  in  this  manner  "  they  stood 
facing  the  walls,"  in  regular  order,  and  not  as  a  disor- 
derly and  undisciphned  host,  though  composed  of  various 
nations,  they  set  the^nselves  in  array  against  Babylon,  every 
man  put  in  array. 

A  trench  was  dug  round  the  city ;  towers  were  erected , 
Babylon  was  besieged ;  the  army  was  divided  into 
twelve  parts,  that  each,  monthly  by  turn,  might  keep 
watch  throughout  the  year  f  and  though  the  orders  were 
given  by  Cyrus,  the  command  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  was 
unconsciously  obeyed — let  none  thereof  escape. 

The  mighty  men  of  Babylon  have  forborne  to  fight. 
They  have  remained  in  their  holds ;  their  might  hath 
failed,  they  became  as  women.^  Babylon  had  been  the 
hammer  of  the  whole  earth,  by  which  nations  were  bro- 
ken in  pieces,  and  kingdoms  destroyed.  Its  mighty  men 
carried  the  terror  of  their  arms  to  distant  regions,  and  led 
nations  captive.  But  they  were  dismayed  according  to 
the  word  of  the  God  of  Israel,  whenever  the  nations 
which  he  had  stirred  up  against  them  stood  in  array  be« 
fore  their  walls.     Their  timidity,  so  clearly  predicted, 

'  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  lib.  vii.  c.  iv.  430.  2  ibid.  pp.  430—434. 

3  See  Prideaux,  Lowth,  Bishop  Newton,  «&c. 

22* 


BABYLON. 

was  the  express  complaint  and  accusation  of  their  ene- 
mies, who  in  vain  attempted  to  provoke  them  to  the  con- 
test. Cyrus  challenged  their  monarch  to  single  combat, 
but  also  in  vain ;'  for  the  hands  of  the  king  of  Babylon 
tpaxed  feeble.  Courage  had  departed  from  both  prince 
and  people ;  and  none  attemjfted  to  save  their  country 
from  spoliation,  or  to  chase  the  assailants  from  their 
gates.  They  sallied  not  forth  against  the  invaders  and 
besiegers,  nor  did  they  attempt  to  disjoin  and  disperse 
them,  even  when  drawn  all  around  their  walls,  and  com- 
paratively weak  along  the  extended  line.  Every  gate 
was  still  shut ;  and  they  remained  in  their  holds.  Being 
as  unable  to  rouse  their  courage,  even  by  a  close 
blockade,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  field,  as  to  scale  or 
break  down  any  portion  of  their  stupendous  walls,  or  to 
force  their  gates  of  solid  brass,  Cyrus  reasoned  that  the 
greater  their  number,  the  more  easily  would  they  be 
starved  into  surrender,  and  yield  to  famine,  since  they 
would  not  contend  with  arms  nor  come  forth  to  fight. 
And  hence  arose  for  the  space  of  two  years  his  only  hope 
of  eventual  success.  So  dispirited  became  its  people, 
that  Babylon,  which  had  made  the  world  as  a  wilderness, 
was  long  unresistingly  a  beleaguered  town.  But,  pos- 
sessed of  many  fertile  fields,  and  of  provisions  for  twenty 
years,  which  in  their  timid  caution  they  had  plentifully 
stored,  they  derided  Cyrus  from  their  impregnable  walls 
within  which  they  remained.^  Their  profligacy,  their 
wickedness  and  false  confidence  were  unabated ;  they 
continued  to  live  carelessly  in  pleasures,  but  their  might 
did  not  return ;  and  Babylon  the  great,  unlike  to  many  a 
small  fortress  and  un walled  town,  made  not  one  effort  to 
regain  its  freedom  or  to  be  rid  of  the  foe. 

Much  time  having  been  lost,  and  no  progress  having 
been  made  in  the  siege,  the  anxiety  of  Cyrus  was  strongly 
excited,  and  he  was  reduced  to  great  perplexity,  when 
at  last  it  was  suggested  and  immediately  determined  on, 
to  turn  the  course  of  the  Euphrates.     But  the  task  was 

'  Xen.  Cyrop.  lib.  v.  c.  iii.  p.  290. 

2  Xenoph.  Cyrop.  1.  vii.  c.  v.  p.  434 ;  Herod.  1.  i.  c.  cxc. 


BABYLON.  259 

not  an  easy  one.  The  river  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
oroad,  and  twelve  feet  deep,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  one 
of  the  counsellors  of  Cyrus,  the  city  was  stronger  by  the 
river  than  by  its  walls.  Diligent  and  laborious  prepara- 
tion was  made  for  the  execution  of  the  scheme,  yet  so  as 
to  deceive  the  Babylonians.  And  the  great  trench, 
ostensibly  formed  for  the  purpose  of  blockade,  which 
for  the  time  it  effectually  secured,  was  dug  around  the 
walls  on  every  side,  in  order  to  drain  the  Euphrates,  and 
to  leave  its  channel  a  straight  passage  into  the  city, 
through  the  midst  of  which  it  flowed.  When  all  things 
were  in  readiness  for  the  execution  of  his  design,  Cyrus, 
having  formed  his  army  into  two  great  divisions,  sta- 
tioned them  respectively  where  the  river  entered,  and 
where  it  emerged  from  the  city,  and  hasted  with  the  in- 
effective part  of  his  troops  to  the  lake  which  the  queen 
of  Babylon  had  made,  and  suddenly  diverted  the  course 
of  the  Euphrates.  So  soon  as  the  water  ceased  to  flow 
into  its  wonted  channel,  Cyrus  having  returned  to  his 
army,  commanded  those  about  him  to  descend  into  the 
dry  part  of  the  river,*  to  ascertain  if  a  passage  could  be 
effected;  and  on  their  reporting  its  practicability,  the 
order  was  given  to  the  vast  besieging  army  to  pass  by 
the  bed  of  the  river  as  a  road  into  the  city.  "  /  will  dry 
up  thy  sea,  and  make  the  springs  dry.  Thus  saith  the 
Lord, — that  saith  to  the  deep,  Be  dry,  and  I  will  dry  up 
ihy  rivers.  A  drought  is  upon  her  waters,  and  they  shall 
he  dried  up. '^'''^ 

Each  command  of  Cyrus,  and  each  act  of  his  army, 
as  related  by  Herodotus  and  Xenophon,  show  how  the 
pleasure  of  the  Lord  and  his  purpose  against  Babylon 
were  performed. 

The  father  of  history  expresses  a  doubt  whether  the 
device,  by  which  a  way,  unimpeded  by  the  impregnable 
walls,  was  opened  into  Babylon,  was  the  invention  of 

'  E<f  TO  ^itgov  Tou  iTsmnfA-ou,  Xen.  vii.  5,  p.  435.  lovt  taroicty.wiz  <rw 
^ii^itm.    Septuagint  translation. 

2  See  Grolius,  Jackson,  Prideaux,  Lowth,  Rollin,  Bishop  New 
ton,  &c. 


260  BABYLON. 

Cyrus,  or  the  suggestion  of  another.  But  there  is  not  a 
doubt  in  history  that  then,  as  at  a  future  period,  a  snare 
was  laid  for  Babylon.^ 

The  execution  of  an  enterprise  so  hazardous,  demanded 
the  greatest  circumspection  and  regularity  of  movement. 
And  -Cyrus  gave  orders  to  each  Persian  captain  of  a 
thousand  men,  cavalry  as  well  as  infantry,  to  be  at  his 
post  and  in  his  own  presence,  at  the  head  of  his  soldiers, 
ranged  two  and  two,  to  be  followed  by  the  allies  in  their 
wonted  order.**  And  thus  watching  their  time  and  pre- 
serving their  ranks,  they  marched  into  the  city,  every 
man  in  the  order  previously  prescribed.  That  men  should 
have  rode  in  hostile  array  against  such  a  city  as  Baby- 
lon, begirt  with  stupendous  walls,  except  where  a  deep 
river  passed  between  them,  is  not  the  least  wonder  of 
the  siege.  But  Cyrus,  with  his  many  thousands  of  horse- 
men, and  Alexander  afterwards  with  his  band  of  Greeks, 
were  both  the  servants  of  the  Lord  in  accomplishing  the 
prediction.  They  shall  ride  upon  horses^  every  man  put 
in  array ^  like  a  man  to  the  battle  against  tliee,  0  daughter 
of  Babylon. 

While  hosts  of  enemies  thus  stole  into  Babylon,  like 
a  thief  into  a  house  by  stratagem  and  at  night,  no  situa- 
tion, for  the  moment,  could  have  been  more  critical  and 
dangerous  than  theirs  :  for  if  the  design  had  been  dis- 
covered, and  if  the  gates  leading  from  the  river  to  the 
city  had  been  shut,  they  would  have  been  shut  up  as  in 
a  net,  as  Herodotus  relates,'  and  their  destruction  would 
have  been  seemingly  inevitable ;  and,  but  for  the  word 
that  never  errs,  and  the  eye  that  watches  over  all,  the 
assailants  would  have  been  the  victims.  But  the  Baby- 
lonians, given  up  on  that  night  to  intemperance  in  honour 
of  their  god,  exercised  no  caution  as  they  felt  no  fear, 
and  the  enemy  passed  into  the  city  without  obstruction 
or  opposition  ;  for,  though  they  knew  it  not,  the  pro- 
phecy was  true,  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut. 

'  See  Grotius,  Jackson,  Prideaux,  Lowth,  Rollin,  Bishop  New- 
lon,  &c. 
2  Xen.  vii.  5,  p.  435.  ^  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxci.    Jackson,  &c 


BABYLON.  261 

To  encourage  his  troops  to  pass  fearlessly  through  the 
streets,  and  to  cast  off  the  dread  of  being  assailed  with 
darts  from  the  ipofs  of  the  houses,  Cyrus  previously  an- 
nounced that  the  doors  were  of  palm- wood,  covered 
with  bitumen,  and  would  easily  be  set  on  fire  by  the 
torches  and  inflammable  matter  with  which,  for  that  in- 
tent, they  were  plentifully  supplied.*  TJmy  have  burnt 
her  dwelling-places ;  her  bars  are  broken.  To  which  it 
is  added, 

One  post  shall  run  to  meet  another^  and  one  messenger 
to  meet  another ^  to  show  the  king  of  JBabylon  that  his  city 
is  taken  at  one  end  ;  and  that  the  passages  are  stopped, 
and  the  reeds  they  have  burned  with  fire,  and  the  men  of 
war  are  affrighted.  The  king  was  in  the  city,  and  yet 
had  to  be  told  that  it  was  taken.  The  seeming  enigma, 
that  messengers  should  run  in  different  and  opposite 
directions,  to  convey  to  the  same  place  tidings  of  the 
same  event,  is  expounded  by  the  fact  of  the  nearly  simul- 
taneous entrance  of  the  enemy  at  both  ends  of  Babylon, 
between  which  the  space  of  at  least  eight  miles  inter- 
vened. In  attempting  to  bear  with  all  expedition  the 
disastrous  tidings  to  the  king  in  his  palace,  situated  near 
the  centre  of  the  city,  messengers  from  each  end  would 
thus  necessarily  so  run  as  to  meet  each  oth^r,  unconscious 
that  the  same  message  was  alike  borne  by  both,  and 
that  their  speed  would  be  in  vain.  The  proof  is  not 
here  the  less  striking  because  it  is  inferential ;  for  it  may 
well  be  presumed  that  such  messengers  did  run,  and  that 
the  numerous  torches  of  the  invading  host  were  not 
borne  in  vain. 

The  river,  from  its  great  breadth  and  depth,  and  its 
sides  being  walled  and  strongly  fortified,  was  held  to  be 
a  defence  of  the  city,  rivalling,  if  not  surpassing,  that  of 
the  walls.  And  the  city  was  taken,  not  only  in  a  man- 
ner most  unexpected,  but  at  a  time  when  the  Babylo- 
nians were  the  most  unprepared,  and  all  sobriety  and 
vigilance  set  aside.  Herodotus  relates,  on  the  testimony 
of  the  inhabitants,  that  from  the  great  extent  of  the  city, 
'  Xen.  vii.  5,  p.  436. 


262  BABYLON. 

and  its  being  taken  at  the  time  of  a  feast,  while  the  peo- 
ple were  given  up  to  dancing  and  indulgence,  those  who 
lived  in  the  utmost  parts  of  the  city  we^e  in  the  hands 
of  their  enemies  before  those  who  dwelt  in  the  centre 
were  aware  of  the  fact.*  Aijd  though  it  may  seem 
incredible  that,  as  Aristotle  relates,  the  tidings  were  un- 
known in  some  places  within  the  walls  on  the  third  day ; 
yet  such  a  statement  from  such  a  pen  adds  to  the  proof 
of  the  predicted  fact.  There  was  no  alarm  from  with- 
out ;  nor  even  the  appearance  of  a  foe.  Not  a  gate  of 
the  city  wall  was  opened ;  not  a  brick  of  it  had  fallen. 
But,  as  a  snare  had  been  laid  for  Babylon,  so  also  it  was 
talcen,  and  it  was  not  aware  f  it  was  found  and  also 
caught,  for  it  had  sinned  against  the  Lord.  How  is  the 
praise  of  the  whole  earth  surprised  !  For  thou  hast  trust- 
ed in  thy  wickedness  ;  and  thy  wisdom,  and  thy  know- 
ledge,  it  hath  perverted  thee;  tlierefore  shall  evil  come 
upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  not  know  from  wlience  it  ariseth; 
and  mischief  shall  fall  upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  not  be 
able  to  put  it  off',  &c. — JVbne  shall  save  thee. 

In  their  lieat  I  will  make  their  feasts,  and  I  will  make 
them  drunken,  that  tJiey  may  rejoice  and  sleep  a  perpetual 
sleep,  and  not  wake,  saith  the  Lord.  I  will  bring  them 
down  like  lambs  to  the  slaughter,  &c.  /  will  make 
drunken  her  princes  and  her  wise  men ;  her  captains  and 
her  rulers,  and  lier  mighty  men,  and  they  shall  sleep  a 
perpetual  sleep,  &c.  Cyrus,  having  purposely  chosen, 
for  the  execution  of  his  plan,  the  time  of  a  great  annual 
Babylonish  festival,  stimulated  his  assembled  troops  to 
enter  the  city,  because,  in  that  night  of  general  revel 
within  the  walls,  many  of  them  were  asleep,  many  drunk, 
and  confusion  universally  prevailed.  On  passing,  with- 
out obstruction  or  hinderance,  into  the  city,  the  Persians 
slaying  some,  putting  others  to  flight,  and  joining  with 
the  revellers  as  if  slaughter  had  been  merriment,  hastened 
Dy  the  shortest  way  to  the  palace,  and  reached  it  ere  yet 
a  messenger  had  told  the  king  that  the  city  was  taken. 

^  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxci.  2  Grotius,  Jackson,  Poole,  &c. 


BABYLON.  263 

The  gates  of  the  palace,  which  were  strongly  fortified, 
were  shut.  The  guards  stationed  before  them  were 
drinldng  beside  a  blazing  light,  when  the  Persians  rushed 
impetuously  upon  them.  The  louder  and  altered  cla- 
mour, no  longer  joyous,  caught  the  ear  of  the  inmates 
of  the  palace,  and  the  bright  light  showed  them  the  work 
of  destruction,  without  revealing  its  cause.  And,  7U)t 
aware  of  the  presence  of  an  enemy  in  the  midst  of  Baby- 
lon, the  king  himself,  excited  by  the  warlike  tumults  at 
the  gates,  commanded  those  within  to  examine  from 
whence  it  arose ;  and  according  to  the  same  word,  by 
which  the  gates  (leading  from  the  river  to  the  city)  were 
not  shut,  the  loins  of  kings  were  loosed  to  open  before 
Cyrus  the  two-leaved  gates.  At  the  first  sight  of  the 
opened  gates  of  the  palace  of  Babylon,  the  eager  Per- 
sians sprang  in.  The  Icing  of  Babylon  heard  the  report 
of  them — anguish  took  hold  of  him;  he  and  all  who  were 
about  him  perished :  God  had  numbered  his  kingdom 
and  finished  it :  it  was  divided  and  given  to  the  Medes 
and  Persians ;  the  lives  of  the  Babylonian  princes,  and 
lords,  and  rulers,  and  captains,  closed  with  that  night's 
festival :  the  drunken  slept  a  perpetual  sleep^  and  did  not 
wake.^ 

Cyrus'  brief  address  to  his  generals  before  marching 
into  Babylon  concluded,  as  recorded  by  Xenophon,  in 
these  remarkable  words :  "  Go,  seize  your  arms,  and, 
together  with  the  gods,  I  will  lead  you  on  {viyriGo^ai). 
Do  ye,  said  he,  Gadatas  and  Gobryas,  show  us  the 
ways,  for  ye  know  them ;  and,  once  entered,  advance 
with  the  utmost  expedition  to  the  palace."  The  speed 
of  the  conqueror  and  of  the  avenger  of  blood  outstripped 
that  of  the  winged  messenger  of  misfortune.  Gobryas, 
formerly  an  injured  vassal  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  pressed 
on  with  those  about  him,  not  without  the  hope  that  on  such 
a  night,  while  unguarded  revelry  reigned  universally  in 
the  city,  the  gates  of  the  palace,  like  those  of  the  river, 
might  be  open.  But  though  their  hopes  were  vain,  and 
the  palace  gates  were  shut,  and  a  double  wall  surround- 

'  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxci. ;  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  vii.  c.  v.  pp.  434,  439. 


264  BABYLON. 

ed  it,  yet  the  gates  were  opened,  and  when  the  palacfi 
was  taken,  and  the  king  and  his  nobles  slain,  the  castles 
were  delivered  up,*  and  Cyrus,  in  a  single  night,  was 
master  of  Babylon.  /  will  go  before  them,  and  make  the 
crooked  places  straight. 

To  mask  their  purpose,  the  invading  host  mimicked 
the  shouting  as  their  leaders  knew  the  customs  of  the 
intemperate  and  frantic  crowd  through  whom  they  passed, 
or  whom  they  slew.  And  it  was  from  the  warlike  and 
tumultuous  noise,^  exceeding  the  obstreperous  mirth  of 
drunken  soldiery,  around  the  palace  and  at  the  very 
gates,  that  the  two-leaved  gates  were  opened.  Shout 
against  her  round  about.  Tlieir  voice  shall  roar  (literally 
sound,  or  make  a  tumultuous  noise)  like  the  sea.  The 
king  of  Babylon  heard  the  report  of  them,  &c. 

All  her  slain  shall  fall  in  the  midst  of  her.  The  Ba- 
bylonians would  not  go  forth  to  fight.  They  mocked 
the  enemy  from  their  lofty  walls,  and  defied  danger  from 
without,  and  dreaded  it  not  within.  In  the  siege,  none 
of  the  Babylonians  fell ;  but  in  the  city,  even  in  the 
midst  of  it,  they  were  slain.  There  die  palace  was 
situated,  and  the  guards  were  stationed,  and  in  the  very 
midst  of  it  the  soldiery  of  Babylon  were  massacred;  the 
men  of  war  were  affrighted,  and  then,  together  with  the 
king,  his  princes  and  lords  were  there  slain. 

She  Jiath  been  proud  against  the  Lord;  against  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel ;  therefore  Iver  young  men  shall  fall 
in  THE  STREETS,  and  all  her  men  of  war  shall  be  cut  off 
in  that  day.  Cyrus  sent  troops  of  horse  throughout  th£ 
streets,  with  orders  to  slay  all  who  were  found  there. 
And  he  commanded  proclamation  to  be  made,  in  the 
Syrian  language,  that  all  who  were  in  the  houses  should 
remain  within :  and  that,  if  any  one  were  found  abroad, 
he  should  be  killed.  These  orders  were  obeyed.^  Every 
one  that  is  found  shall  be  thrust  through,  &c.  They  shall 
wander  every  man  to  his  quarter. 

I  will  Jill  thee  with  men  as  with  caterpillars.  Not  only 
did  the  Persian  army  enter  with  ease  as  caterpillars,  to- 

'  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  vii.  c.  v.  p.  440.     2  ibi^.  p.  438.     3  Ibid.  p.  439. 


BABYLON  265 

gether  with  all  the  nations  that  had  come  up  against 
Babylon,  but  they  seemed  also  as  numerous.  Cyrus, 
after  the  capture  of  the  city,  made  a  great  display  of  his 
cavalry  in  the  presence  of  the  Babylonians,  and  in  the 
midst  of  Babylon.  Four  thousand  guards  stood  before 
the  palace  gates,  and  two  thousand  on  each  side.  These 
advanced  as  Cyrus  approached ;  two  thousand  spearmen 
followed  them.  These  were  succeeded  by  four  square 
masses  of  Persian  cavalry,  each  consisting  of  ten  thou 
sand  men;  and  to  these  again  were  added,  in  their  order 
the  Median,  Armenian,  Hyrcanian,  Caducian,  and  Sacian 
horsemen, — all  as  before  riding  upon  horses^  every  man 
in  array ^ — with  lines  of  chariots  four  abreast,  concluding 
the  train  of  the  numerous  hosts.*  Cyrus  afterwards  re- 
viewed, at  Babylon,  the  whole  of  his  army,  consisting 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  horse,  two  thousand 
chariots,  and  six  hundred  thousand  foot.^  Babylon, 
which  was  taken  when  not  aware,  and  within  whose 
walls  no  enemy,  except  a  captive,  had  been  ever  seen, 
was  also  filled  with  men  as  with  caterpillars^  as  if  there 
had  not  been  a  wall  around  it.  The  Scriptures  do  not 
relate  the  manner  in  which  Babylon  was  taken,  nor  do 
they  ever  allude  to  the  exact  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies. 
But  there  is,  in  every  particular,  a  strict  coincidence  be- 
tween the  predictions  of  the  prophets  and  the  historical 
narratives,  both  of  Herodotus  and  Xenophon. 

On  taking  Babylon  suddenly  and  by  surprise,  Cyrus, 
as  had  been  literally  prophesied  concerning  him,  and  as 
the  sign  by  which  it  was  to  be  known  that  the  Lord  hath 
called  him  by  his  name,  (Isa.  xlv.  1 — 4^)  became  imme- 
diately possessed  of  the  most  secret  treasures  of  Babylon. 

'  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  viii.  c.  iii.  pp.  494,  495.  2  Jbjtj,  c.  vi.  p.  532. 

3  Isaiah  prophesied  above  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  before 
the  taking  of  Babylon,  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Herodo- 
tus, and  nearly  three  hundred  and  fifty  before  Xenophon.  See 
Bishop  Newton. — Josephus  states  that  this  prophecy  was  deli- 
vered by  Isaiah  two  hundred  and  ten  years  before  the  taking  of 
Babylon — Isaiah  prophesied,  b.  c.  760 — 798.  Babylon  was  taken 
by  Cyrus,  b.  c.  538.  Herodotus  was  born  about  484  b.  c. — and 
Xenophon  349. 

23 


266  BABYLON. 

No  enemy  had  ever  dared  to  rise  up  against  that  greai 
city.  To  take  it  seemed  not  a  work  for  man  to  attempt ; 
but  it  became  the  easy  prey  of  him  who  was  called  the 
servant  of  the  Lord.  And  as  at  this  day, — from  the  per- 
fect representation  given  by  the  prophets,  of  every  fea- 
ture of  fallen  Babylon,  now  at  last  utterly  desolate, — men 
may  know  that  God  is  the  Lord,  seeing  that  all  who 
have  visited  and  describe  it,  show  that  the  predicted 
judgments  against  it  have  been  literally  fulfilled ;  so  at 
that  time,  Cyrus — who,  for  two  years,  could  only  look 
on  the  outer  side  of  the  outer  wall  of  Babylon,  and  who 
had  begun  to  despair  of  deducing  it  by  famine — was  to 
know  by  the  treasures  of  darkness,  and  hidden  riches  of 
secret  places  being  given  into  his  hand,  that  the  Lord 
which  had  called  him  by  his  name,  was  the  God  of  Israel. 
And  when  the  appointed  time  had  come  that  the  power 
of  their  oppressor  was  to  be  broken,  Babylon  was  taken ; 
and  when  the  similarly  prescribed  period  of  the  captivity 
of  the  Jews,  for  whose  sake  he  was  called,  had  expired, 
Cyrus  was  their  deliverer. 

Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose 
right  hand  I  have  holden,  to  subdue  nations  before  him. 
Cyrus,  commencing  his  career  with  a  small  army  of  Per- 
sians, not  only  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Medes 
and  Persians,  first  united  under  him,  but  the  Hyrcanians 
yielded  also  voluntarily  to  his  authority.  He  subdued 
the  Syrians,  Assyrians,  Cappadocians,  both  Phrygias,  the 
Lydians,  Carians,  Phoenicians,  and  Babylonians.  He 
governed  the  Bactrians,  Indians,  and  Cilicians,  and  also 
the  Sacians,  Paphlagonians  and  Mariandynians,  and  other 
nations.  He  likewise  reduced  to  his  authority  the  Greeks 
that  were  in  Asia,  and  the  Cyprians,  and  Egyptians.* 
JVations  were  thus  subdued  before  him. 

I  will  stir  up  the  Medes  against  them,  which  shall  not 
regard  silver  ;  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in  it. 
He  who  was  called  the  anointed  of  the  Lord  was  free 
from  covetousness.  His  character  is  drawn  by  Xeno- 
phon,  (who  states  that  he  excelled  all  other  kings,)  as  the 
'  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  i.  pp.  4,  5. 


BABYLON.  267 

model  of  a  wise  and  generous  prince.  The  liberality  of 
Cyrus  was  more  noble  than  the  mere  possession  of  im- 
mensity of  wealth,  though  including  both  the  riches  of 
Croesus  and  the  treasures  of  Babylon.  He  reckoned  that 
his  riches  belonged  not  any  more  to  himself  than  to  his 
friends.^  And  he  made  as  well  as  pronounced  it  his  ob- 
ject to  use  and  not  to  hoard  his  wealth,  and  to  apply  it 
to  the  reward  of  his  servants,  and  in  relief  of  their  wants. 
So  little  did  he  regard  silver  or  delight  in  gold,  that  Croesus 
told  him  that  by  his  liberality  he  would  make  himself 
poor,  instead  of  storing  up  vast  treasures  to  himself. 
The  Medes  possessed,  in  this  respect,  the  spirit  of  their 
chief,  of  which  an  instance,  recorded  by  Xenophon,  is 
too  striking  and  appropriate  to  be  passed  over.^  When 
Gobryas,  an  Assyrian  governor,  whose  son  the  king  of 
Babylon  had  slain,  hospitably  entertained  him  and  his 
army,  Cyrus  appealed  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Medes  and 
Hyrcanians,  and  to  the  noblest  and  most  honourable  of 
the  Persians,  whether  giving  first  what  was  due  unto  the 
gods,  and  leaving  to  the  rest  of  the  army  their  portion, 
they  would  not  overmatch  his  generosity  by  ceding  to 
him  their  whole  share  of  the  first  and  plentiful  booty 
which  they  had  won  from  the  land  of  Babylon.  Loudly 
applauding  the  proposal,  they  immediately  and  unani- 
mously consented  ;  and  one  of  them  said,  "  Gobryas  may 
have  thought  us  poor,  because  we  came  not  loaded  with 
golden  coins,^  and  drink  not  out  of  golden  cups ;  but  by 
this  he  will  know,  that  men  can  be  generous  even  with- 
out gold."^     ^s  for  gold^  they  did  not  delight  in  it. 

Gobryas,  it  may  be  presumed,  was  stirred  up  and  pre- 
pared, by  gratitude  on  the  one  hand,  as  well  as  by  re- 
venge on  the  other,  to  go  up  against  Babylon.  And,  it 
may  be  mentioned,  he  was  afterwards  the  first  to  lead 
the  way  to  the  palace ;  and — for,  though  a  great  deep, 
the  judgments  of  God  are  altogether  righteous — his  hand 
was  among  those  who  slew  the  murderer  of  his  son. 

While  such  abundant  illustrations  of  the  truth  of  pro- 

'  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  viii.  c.  iv.  p.  516.        2  jb,  ijb.  viii.  c.  ii.  p.  482. 
3  Darics.  -i  Xen.  lib.  v.  p.  289. 


268  BABYLON. 

phecy  in  respect  to  tlie  siege  of  Babylon  are  before  us, 
it  may  be  specially  noted,  that  there  is  not  any  other 
king  or  conqueror  in  ancient  history,  or  even  in  Christian 
times,  whose  character,  in  the  union  of  a  noble  disinterest- 
edness and  nobler  self-denial,  an4  of  a  sound  because  moral 
policy,  and  of  an  integrity  which  casts  the  conduct  of 
many  others  into  the  shade,  and  of  forbearance  and  gene- 
rosity towards  conquered  enemies,  the  Babylonians  ex- 
cepted, ever  surpassed  or  equalled  that  of  Cyrus,  as 
drawn  or  described  by  profane  historians.  By  some  it 
has  indeed  been  deemed,  we  think  unjustly,  as  in  part  a 
fiction,  even  because  of  its  very  excellence.  But  the 
description  is  given  by  a  heathen,  which  tallies  so  closely 
with  the  word  of  the  prophet.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  to 
his  anointed y  to  Cyrus,  and  I  have  raised  him  up  in  right- 
eousness, and  I  will  direct  all  his  ways.^ 

And  it  is  immediately  added  by  the  prophet — lie  shall 
build  my  city,  and  he  shall  let  go  my  captives,  not  for 
price  nor  reward,  saith  the  Lord  qfhosts.^  And  assuredly 
he  was  the  man  who  first  set  forth  the  decree  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Jews  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple. 
And  far  from  acting  thus,  either  for  price  or  reward,  he 
commanded  the  generals  and  governors  in  the  vicinity 
of  Judea,  to  supply  the  Jews  with  gold  and  silver,  for 
the  building  of  the  temple,  and  beasts  for  sacrifice,  which 
accordingly  they  did." 

Previous  to  the  siege  of  Babylon,  and  in  preparing  the 
nations  against  her,  Cyrus,  after  a  desperate  conflict, 
subdued  the  Egyptians,  and  the  other  confederates  of 
Croesus.*  The  Egyptians,  though  the  most  valiant  and 
unyielding  of  his  foes,  on  being  reduced  under  his  power, 
remained  afl:erwards  faithful  to  the  king.*  Ethiopia  was, 
on  the  south,  the  boundary  of  his  dominions.^  Thus 
saith  the  Lord,  the  labour  of  Egypt  and  the  merchandise 
of  Ethiopia,  and  of  the  Sabeans,  men  of  stature,  shall 

1  Isa.  xlv.  1,  13.  2  isa.  xlv.  13. 

3  Jos.  Ant.  lib.  xi.  c.  i.  §  2,  3.      "  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  i.  c.  ii.  p.  5. 

*  Xen.  Cyr.  lib .  vii.  c.  i.  p.  407.     6  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  viii.  c.  viii.  p.  645. 


BABYLON.  269 

come  over  unto  thee,  and  they  shall  be  thine :  they  shall 
come  over  after  thee. 

They  shall  fall  down  unto  thee.  In  his  magnificent 
procession  after  the  conquest  of  Babylon,  where  Cyrus 
first  pubhcly  presented  himself  before  his  army  drawn 
up  in  array  in  the  midst  of  assembled  multitudes,  so  soon 
as,  standing  erect  in  his  chariot,  he  came  forth  from  the 
gate  of  the  palace,  all  seeing,  adored,  or  fell  down  unto 
him.^  It  was  an  ancient  opinion,  that  Cyrus  was  the 
first  man  to  whom  adoration  was  thus  paid  :  and  that  the 
eastern  mode  of  prostration  or  falling  down  unto  mon- 
archs,  especially  among  the  Medes  and  Persians,  had 
hence  its  origin. ^  This  opinion,  whether  true  or  false, 
may  at  least  testify  to  the  fact,  that  the  adoration  paid  to 
Cyrus  was  both  remarkable  and  memorable. 

./Ind  they  shall  make  supplication  to  him.  Not  even 
adoration,  unmeet  for  man,  could  disturb  the  equanimity 
of  Cyrus ;  but  his  clemency  and  condescension  shone 
brighter  than  his  diadem.  Released  from  the  yoke  of 
the  king  of  Babylon,  who,  proud  as  Lucifer,  neither  lis- 
tened to  the  cry  of  the  oppressed,  nor  opened  the  door 
of  his  prisoners,  very  many,  according  to  their  various 
wants,  petitioned  Cyrus  as  he  passed  in  his  triumphal 
course  through  the  admiring  crowds.  So  numerous  were 
the  petitions  addressed  to  him,  that  unable  to  hear  them, 
and  tempering  mercy  with  judgment,  and  generosity  with 
justice,  he  commanded  three  sceptre-bearers  on  each 
side,  to  tell  them  to  make  their  requests  known  to  him 
through  his  generals  or  friends,  whom  also  he  required 
to  lay  before  him  every  case  worthy  of  a  hearing. 

Such  was  the  first  conquest ;  such  the  first  conqueror 
of  Babylon  ;  and  such  the  prophetic  history  of  both. 

None  shall  return  in  vain.  The  walls  of  Babylon 
were  incomparably  the  loftiest  and  the  strongest  ever 

'  iJ(jvris  5t  TTcLVTSc  Tr^oa-iKWho-uv.  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  viii.  c.  iii.  p.  494. 
The  same  Greek  word,  descriptive  of  the  act,  and  coupled  with 
the  name  of  Cyras,  is  used  also  by  Arrian,  and  also  in  the  Septu- 
agint  or  Greek  translation  of  this  very  verse. 

2  Arrian.  de  Exp.  Alex.  lib.  iv.  c.  xi. 

23* 


270  BABYLON. 

built  by  man.  They  were  constructed  of  such  stupen- 
dous size  and  strength,  on  very  purpose  that  no  possibility 
might  exist  of  Babylon  ever  being  taken.  And,  if  ever 
confidence  in  bulwarks  could  not  have  been  misplaced, 
it  was  when  the  citizens  and  soldiery  of  Babylon,  who 
feared  to  encounter  their  enemies  in  the  field, — in  per- 
fect assurance  of  their  safety,  and  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  Parthian  arrow,  scoffed,  fi-om  the  summit  of  their 
impregnable  walls,  the  hosts  which  encompassed  them. 
But  though  the  proud  boast  of  a  city  so  defended,  and 
which  had  never  been  taken, — that  it  would  stand  for 
ever, — seemed  scarcely  presumptuous ;  yet,  subsequently 
to  the  delivery  of  the  prophecies  concerning  it,  Babylon 
was  not  only  repeatedly  taken,  but  was  never  once  be- 
sieged in  vain.  Cyrus  indeed  departed,  after  he  first 
appeared  before  its  walls,  but  he  went  to  prepare  and 
gatlwr  together  the  Tuitions  against  it.  And  he  did  not 
return  in  vain.  But  this  prediction,  as  it  is  applicable 
also  to  all  others,  is  true,  not  of  him  only,  but  also  of  all 
who,  in  after  ages,  came  up  against  Babylon.  It  fell 
before  every  hand  that  was  raised  against  it.  Yet  its 
greatness  did  not  depart,  nor  was  its  glory  obscured  in  a 
day.  Cyrus  was  not  its  destroyer ;  but  he  sought  by 
wise  institutions  to  perpetuate  its  pre-eminence  among 
the  nations.  He  left  it  to  his  successor  in  all  its  strength 
and  magnificence.  Rebelling  against  Darius,  the  Baby- 
lonians made  preparations  for  a  siege,  and  bade  defiance 
to  the  whole  power  of  the  Persian  empire.  Fully  re- 
solved not  to  yield,  and  that  famine  might  never  reduce 
them  to  submission,  they  adopted  the  most  desperate  and 
barbarous  resolution  of  putting  every  woman  in  the  city 
to  death,  with  the  exception  of  their  mothers,  and  one 
female,  the  best  beloved  in  every  family,  to  bake  their 
bread.  All  the  rest  were  assembled  together,  and  stran- 
gled.^ These  two  things  shall  come  upon  thee  in  a  rno- 
ment  in  one  day,  the  loss  of  children  and  widowhood  : 
they  shall  come  upon  thee  in  their  perfiction,for  the  muU 

1  Herod,  lib.  iii.  c.  cl.  torn.  iii.  160,  edit.  Foul.     See  Prideaux, 
Ih&hop  Newton. 


BABYLON.  271 

titude  of  thy  sorceries,  and  for  the  great  abundance  of  thine 
enchantments.  For  thou  hast  trusted  in  thy  wickediiess, 
&c.  They  did  come  upon  them  in  their  perfection, 
when  their  wives  and  children  were  strangled  by  their 
own  hands  ;  and  so  suddenly,  as  before,  in  a  moment  in 
one  day,  did  these  things  come  upon  them,  that  the  vic- 
tims were  assembled  for  the  sacrifice ;  so  general  was 
the  instant  widowhood,  that  fifty  thousand  women  were 
afterwards  taken,  in  proportionate  numbers,  from  the 
diflferent  neighbouring  provinces  of  the  empire,  to  re- 
place those  who  had  been  slain ;  and  the  very  reserva- 
tion of  their  mothers  multiplied  the  lamentations  for  the 
loss  of  children.  But  trust  in  their  wickedness  brought 
them  no  safety.  For,  while  they  were  thus  instrumental 
in  the  infliction  of  one  grievous  judgment,  for  which  such 
murderers  were  ripe,  their  iniquity  was  ndt  thereby  les- 
sened ;  and  therefore,  at  however  great  a  price,  they 
procured  not  any  security  against  another  judgment, 
which  also  had  been  denounced  against  Babylon  for  its 
wickedness.  They  deemed  themselves  absolutely  secure 
against  famine  and  against  assault.  The  artifice  of  Cy- 
rus could  not  again  be  a  snare ;  and  an  attempt  to 
renew  it  was,  along  with  every  other,  entirely  frustrated. 
But  still  it  was  7iot  in  vain  that  Darius  besieged  Babylon. 
In  the  twentieth  month  of  the  siege  a  single  Persian, 
whose  body  was  covered  over  with  the  marks  of  stripes 
and  with  blood,  and  whose  nose  and  ears  had  been 
newly  cut  oflf,  presented  himself  at  one  of  the  gates  of 
Babylon, — a  helpless  object  of  pity,  and,  if  not  a  great 
criminal  indeed,  the  obvious  victim  of  wanton  and  sa- 
vage cruelty.  He  had  fled,  or  escaped,  from  the  camp 
of  the  enemy.  But  he  was  not  a  common  deserter,  such 
as  they  might  not  have  admitted  within  their  walls, 
but  it  was  Zopyrus,  who  was  well  known  as  one  of  the 
chief  nobles  of  Persia.  He  represented  to  the  Babylo- 
nians, that,  not  for  any  crime,  but  for  the  honest  advice 
which  he  had  given  to  Darius  to  raise  the  siege,  as  the 
taking  of  the  city  seemed  to  all  impossible,  the  enraged 
tyrant  (his  pride  wounded,  or  his  fears  perhaps  awakened. 


272  BABYLON. 

that  his  army  would  be  discouraged  by  such  counsel) 
had  inflicted  upon  him  the  severest  cruelties,  caused  him 
to  be  mutilated  as  they  saw,  and  to  be  scourged,  of 
which  his  whole  body  bore  the  marks  ; — to  one  of  his 
proud  spirit  and  high  rank,  disgrace  was  worse  than 
sufferiiig,  and  he  came  to  join  the  revolters,  his  soul 
burning  for  vengeance  against  their  common  tyrant. 
"  And  now,"  addressing  them,  he  said,  "  I  come  for  the 
greatest  good  to  you,  for  the  greatest  evil  to  Darius,  to 
his  army,  and  to  the  Persians.  The  injuries  which  I 
have  suifered  shall  not  be  unrevenged,  for  I  know,  and 
will  disclose  all  his  designs." 

On  such  proofs,  and  cheered  by  such  hopes,  the  Baby- 
lonians did  not  doubt  the  sincerity  of  Zopyrus  nor  his 
devotion  to  their  cause,  identified,  as  it  clearly  seemed, 
with  the  only  hope  of  revenge  against  the  cruel  author 
of  his  wrongs,  towards  whom  they  could  not  conceive 
but  that  he  would  cherish  an  inflexible  hatred.  He 
sought  but  to  fight  against  their  enemies.  At  his  re- 
quest, they  gladly  and  unhesitatingly  intrusted  him  with 
a  military  command.  Forgiveness  of  injuries  was  not 
then  reckoned  a  virtue,  which  it  is  too  seldom  practi- 
cally accounted  even  in  a  Christian  land  ;  and  vengeance, 
still  called  honour,  sleeps  not  in  an  unforgiving  breast. 
Zopyrus  soon  satisfied  the  Babylonians  that  his  WTongs 
would  not  long  be  unavenged.  To  their  delight,  having 
watched  the  first  opportunity,  he  sallied  forth  from  the 
gates  of  Semiramis,  on  the  tenth  day  after  his  entrance 
into  the  city,  and  falling  suddenly  on  a  thousand  of  the 
enemy,  slew  them  every  one.  After  an  interval  of  only 
seven  days,  twice  that  number  were,  in  like  manner, 
slain,  near  the  Ninian  gates.  The  men  of  Babylon  were 
animated  with  new  vigour  and  new  hopes ;  the  praise 
of  Zopyrus  was  on  every  tongue.  He  received  a 
higher  command.  But  the  Persians,  seemingly  more 
wary,  were  nowhere  open  to  attack  for  the  space  of 
twenty  days.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period,  how- 
ever, Zopyrus,  by  a  noted  exploit,  again  proved  him- 
self worthy  of  still  greater  authority,  by  leading  out  his 


BABYLON.  273 

troops  from  the  Chaldean  gates,  and  killing,  in  one  spot, 
four  thousand  men.  In  reward  for  such  services,  and 
such  tried  fidelity,  skill,  and  courage,  as  none,  they 
thought,  could  be  more  worthy  of  the  honour  and  of  the 
trust,  they  not  only  raised  him  to  the  chief  command  of 
their  army,  but  appointed  him  to  the  dignified  and  most 
responsible  office  in  Babylon,  which  it  was  his  aim  to 
attain,  that  of  (tBi.%o^v%a^)  guardian  of  their  walls.  ^ 

Darius,  as  if  to  be  secure  against  the  continued  repe- 
tition of  such  desultory  carnage  of  his  troops,  advanced 
with  all  his  army  to  the  w^alls.  They  were  manned  to 
repel  the  assault.  But  the  treachery  of  Zopyrus,  how- 
ever incredible,  and  unknown  and  unsuspected,  alike  by 
the  Babylonians  and  the  Persians,  became  immediately 
apparent.  Intrusted  as  he  was,  in  virtue  of  his  office, 
with  the  gates  of  the  city,  no  sooner  had  the  enemy 
approached,  and  the  armed  citizens  ascended  the  walls, 
than  he  opened  the  Belidian  and  the  Cissian  gates,  close 
to  which  the  choicest  Persian  troops  were  stationed.^ 
The  whole  scheme  was  a  preconcerted  snare,  known 
only  to  Darius  and  Zopyrus,  and  invented  solely  by  the 
latter,  the  mutilation  of  w^hose  body  was  his  own  volun- 
tary act.  To  the  glory  of  the  deed  were  added  the 
greatest  gifts  and  honours,  and  the  governorship  of 
Babylon  without  tribute,  for  his  reward.  The  numbers 
of  the  different  detachments  of  the  Persian  troops  who 
fell,  their  positions,  and  the  precise  time  of  their  succes- 
sive advancements,  had  all  been  resolved  on  and  ar- 
ranged. And  Darius  as  freely  sacrificed  the  lives  of 
seven  thousand  men,  as  Zopyrus  had  inflicted  incurable 
wounds  upon  himself  "  Thus,"  says  Herodotus,  "  was 
Babylon  a  second  time  taken."  And  thus  was  the 
word  of  God — from  whom  nothing  past,  present,  or 
future,  can  be  hid — a  second  time  fulfilled  against  Ba- 
bylon— none  shall  return  in  vain. 

Babylon  was  a  third  time  taken  by  Alexander  the 
Great.  Mazseus,  the  Persian  general,  surrendered  the 
city  into  his  hands,  and  he  entered  it  with  his  army 

'  Herod,  c.  clii. — clvii.  pp.  166 — 173.         2  Herod,  c.  clviii.  clix. 


274  BABYLON. 

drawn  up,  "  as  if  they  were  marching  to  battle."*  Again 
was  it  Jilled  with  men,  and  literally  was  every  man  put 
in  array,  like  a  man  to  the  battle.  The  siege  of  so  for- 
tified a  city^  would  have  been  a  work  of  great  difficulty 
and  labour,  even  to  the  conqueror  of  Asia.  But  the  in- 
habitants eagerly  flocked  upon  the  walls  to  see  their  new 
king,  and  exchanged,  without  a  struggle,  the  Persian  for 
the  Macedonian  yoke.  Babylon  was  afterwards  suc- 
cessively taken  by  Antigonus,  by  Demetrius,  by  An- 
tiochus  the  Great,  and  by  the  Parthians.  But  whatever 
king  or  nation  came  up  against  it,  none  returned  in  vain. 
Each  step  in  the  progress  of  the  decline  of  Babylon 
was  the  accomplishment  of  a  prophecy.  Conquered,  for 
the  first  time,^  by  Cyrus,  it  was  afterwards  reduced  from 
an  imperial  to  a  tributary  city.  Come  down  and  sit  in 
the  dusty  0  virgin  daughter  of  Babylon;  sit  on  the 
ground,  there  is  no  throne,  0  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans. — 
After  the  Babylonians  rebelled  against  Darius,  the  walls 
were  reduced  in  height,  and  all  the  gates  destroyed."* 
The  wall  of  Babylon  shall  fall,  her  walls  thrown  down. — 
Xerxes,  afler  his  ignominious  retreat  from  Greece,  rifled 
the  temples  of  Babylon,*  the  golden  images  alone  in 
which  were  estimated  at  20,000,000/.,  besides  treasures 
of  vast  amount.  /  will  punish  Bel  in  Babylon,  and  I 
will  bring  forth  out  of  his  mouth  that  which  he  has  swal- 
lowed up ;  I  will  do  judgment  upon  the  graven  images 
of  Babylon.^ — Alexander  the  Great  attempted  to  restore 
it  to  its  former  glory,  and  designed  to  make  it  the  me- 
tropolis of  a  universal  empire.  But  while  the  building 
of  the  temple  of  Belus  and  the  reparation  of  the  em- 
bankments of  the  Euphrates  were  actually  carrying  on, 
the  conqueror  of  the  world  died,  at  the  commencement 

'  Quadrate  agmine,  quod  ipse  ducebat,  velut  in  aciem  irent,  in- 
gredi  suos  jubet.     (Quint.  Curt.  lib.  v.  c.  ii.) 

'  Tam  munitae  urbis.     (Ibid.) 

'  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  cxci.    Lowth,  Bishop  Newton. 

''  Herod,  lib.  iii.  c.  cl.     Calmet,  &c. 

*  Herod,  lib.  i.  c.  clxxxiii.  Arrian.  de  Expeditione  Alex,  lib;  vii. 
i.  xvii.     Prideaux,  Lowth,  Bishop  Newton. 

«  Jer.  li.  44,  47,  53. 


BABYLON.  275 

of  this  his  last  undertaking,  in  the  height  of  his  power, 
and  in  the  flower  of  his  age.^  Take  halm  for  her  pain, 
if  so  be  that  she  may  bt  healed.  We  would  have  healed 
Babylon,  but  she  is  not  healed.^ — Patrocles,  the  governor 
of  Babylon  under  Seleucus,  one  of  the  successors  of 
Alexander,  alarmed  at  the  sudden  and  unexpected  tidings, 
that  his  enemy,  Demetrius,  with  an  army,  was  at  hand, 
dared  not,  from  the  small  number  of  his  forces,  wait  his 
approach,  ordered  the  Babylonians  to  leave  the  city  and 
to  "  flee  into  the  desert,"^  and,  abandoning  the  city, 
sought  protection  for  himself  and  for  his  troops  from  the 
marshes  of  the  Euphrates  rather  than  the  walls  of  Baby- 
lon. On  entering  Babylon,  though  he  had  come  up 
suddenly  like  the  swelling  of  a  river,  Demetrius  found 
"  a  deserted  city."'*  He  shall  come  up  like  a  lion  from 
the  swelling  of  Jordan  unto  the  habitation  of  the  strong  ; 
bat  I  will  make  them  suddenly  run  away  from  her.^ 

Babylon  was  soon  resorted  to  again,  but  the  vicinity 
of  the  city  of  Seleucia,  built  on  very  purpose,  as  Pliny 
records,^  and  as  Christian  writers  have  long  remarked, 
tended  greatly  to  its  abandonment  and  decay,  and  was 
the  chief  cause  of  the  decline  of  Babylon  as  a  city,  and 
drained  it  of  a  great  part  of  its  population.  Ptolemy 
Euergetes,  who  extended  his  conquests  beyond  the  Eu- 
phrates, carried  with  him  into  Egypt  2500  idols,  some 
of  which  Cambyses,  who  reigned  at  Babylon,  had  long 
before  taken  from  the  Egyptians.''  At  a  later  period,  or 
130  years  before  the  Christian  era,  Phraates,  king  of 
Parthia,  as  Justin  relates,  having  marched  against  the 
Scythians,  who  had  begun  to  lay  waste  his  territories, 
delegated  his  authority  to  one  Himerus,  a  favourite  on 
account  of  the  beauty  of  his  youth  or  childhood,  who, 
forgetful  of  his  former  (condition  of)  Hfe,  and  of  his 

1  Arrian.  lib.  vii.  c.  xvii.;  Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  738.    Rollin. 

2  Jer.  li.  8,  9.  3  ^y^iy  jjf  tmv  €g«/*ov. 

^  Boi^vxZvst.  T»v  ■voxtv  iKKikUjUfAmv  Itj^i.  Diod.  Sic.  torn.  viii.  lib.  xix. 
pp.  423,  424.  5  Jer.  1.  44. 

6  In  solitudinem  rediit  exhausta  vicinitati  SeleucisB,  ob  id  con- 
ditoe  a  Nicatore.     Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  1.  vi.  c.  36. 

7  Hieron.     Tom.  v.  p.  7()fi,  in  Dan.  xi.  8. 


276  BABYLON. 

duty  as  deputy,  grievously  oppressed  the  Babylonianfr 
and  other  states.*  Phraates  was  discomfited  and  slain 
by  the  Sc3rthians,  as  was  also  his  uncle  and  successor, 
Artabanus,  soon  after  by  the  Thogarii ;  and  his  soi 
Mithridates  the  Great  immediately  succeeded  to  the 
kingdom  of  Parthia.  Diodorus  Siculus,  in  seeming  in 
advertence,  speaks  of  Euemerus  or  Humerus  as  king  of 
Parthia;  but  mentions  that  he  was  an  Hyrcanian  by 
birth :  and  in  a  single  passage  or  fragment,  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  cruelties  exercised  by  him  against  the  Baby- 
lonians is  rich  in  illustrations,  and,  conjoined  with  cor- 
roborative testimony,  marks  the  continued  progress  of 
the  prophetic  judgments  against  Babylon.  Exceeding 
in  cruelty  all  known  tyrants,  as  Diodorus  relates,  he 
omitted  no  sort  of  punishment ;  for  having  enslaved 
many  of  the  Babylonians  even  for  any  cause  whatever, 
he  was  wont  to  send  them  away  with  all  their  house- 
holds into  Media,  having  given  orders  that  their  effects, 
or  rather  that  they  themselves  should  be  sold  as  spoil. 
He  also  set  fire  to  the  forum  of  Babylon,  and  to  some 
of  the  temples,  and  destroyed  the  fairest  part  of  the  city.^ 

1  Phraates  cum  adversus  eos  proficisceretur,  ad  tutelam  regni 
reliquit  Himerum  quendam,  pueritiae  sibi  flore  conciliatum ;  qui 
tyrannica  crudelitate,  oblitus  et  vitSB  praeteritse,  el  vicarii  officii, 
Babylonios,  multasque  alias  civitates  importune  vexavit.  Justin, 
lib.  xlii.  cap.  1. 

*  'Ot/  'EuMjuigcc  0  ruv  Uu^Bcev  0:t(rt\tug,  YgK«v»?  iv  to  ytvoc,  l/uvnTt  it 
vTn^lidO^Km  w«VT*?  T&wf  /Li.vM/jLOvvjfA.&'Mi   iv^Arvovf,  cvK  ia-riv  ottciov  TifAU^mt 

vofluit/f  i^it)iiga.7roita-a.fj(.&oi  «ic  T»y  MxJ/av  i^vrtfx-\i  7rgc<Tra.^ci;  \aupv^c7raX»a-sw* 
nAi  TMf  BitySi/Aavoc  t«v  ayogtiv,  x.cu  tivsl  raiv  It^av,  ive?r^(r(,  x,at  to  x.^a.TUTTcv  rut 
TToxmti  Jn^Bupi.  Diod.  Sic.  vol.  x.  p.  128.  Translated  as  above. 
The  preceding  passage  of  Diodorus  is  quoted  by  Usher  and 
Bishop  Newton,  &c.,  as  descriptive  of  the  desolation  of  Babylon 
and  of  the  cruelties  exercised  against  the  Babylonians,  without 
any  specific  reference  to  any  special  prediction.  In  the  common 
Latin  translation,  which  alone  they  quote,  there  is  no  mention 
whatever,  as  in  the  original,  of  the  fact,  that  commandment  was 
given  by  the  tyrant  that  their  spoils  should  be  sold,  or  that  the 

*  A.a0vpa  is  a  term  which  specially  denotes  the  spoils  taken  from  the  living, 
as  distinguished  from  orKvXa,  or  those  of  the  dead.  Scap.  The  compound  word 
is  otherwise  used  by  Diodorus  to  denote  that  the  persons  of  captives  were  sold 
as  spoil,  and  thus  implies  that  they  were  subjected  to  the  lowest  servitude  and 
utmost  spoliation. 


BABYLON.  277 

There  is  m  throne,  0  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans  ;  for 
thou  shalt  no  more  he  called  tender  and  delicate.  Take 
the  millstones  and  grind  meal,  &c.  This  prophecy  is 
thus  interpreted  by  Grotius  and  Lowth,  without  any 
allusion  to  the  actual  fact  of  the  servitude  or  slavery 
of  the  Babylonians — "  Prepare  yourselves  for  servile 
offices."^  "From  being  mistress  of  kingdoms  thou  shalt 
become  a  mean  slave ;  thy  captives  shall  be  set  to  grind, 
which  was  reckoned  the  lowest  degree  of  drudgery,  (see 
Exod.  xi..  Judges  xvi.  21,)  such  was  the  pistrinu7n,  or 
turning  the  mill  among  the  Romans."^  Himerus,  the 
worst  of  tyrants,  exercised  every  species  of  cruelty  upon 
the  Babylonians,  and  reduced  many  of  them  to  actual 
slavery,  and  consequently  to  its  meanest  toils.  /  will 
cause  the  arrogancy  of  tJie  proud  to  cease,  and  will  lay 
low  the  haughtiness  of  the  terrible.^ 

In  suddenly  running  away  from  her  at  the  approach 
of  Demetrius,  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Babylon  left  the 
Euphrates  and  fled  to  the  desert,  others  passed  over  the 
Tigris  into  Susiana;  and  the  intervening  rivers  and 
ditches,  or  marshy  ground,  over  which  they  had  to  pass 
in  their  hasty  retreat,  were  the  best  protection  of  the  band 
that  accompanied  Patrocles.  After  reducing  many  of 
the  Babylonians  to  bondage,  Himerus  banished  them 
from  Babylon  into  Media,  which  lay  beyond  the  Tigris 
and  Choaspes,  and  their  tributary  streams ;  but  first  he 

exiles,  as  spoil,  should  be  set  up  for  sale.  But  it  is  not  unworthy 
of  being  noted;  for  Lowth,  who  does  not  refer  to  this  testimony 
of  Diodorus  or  to  any  similar  facts  whatever,  thus  gives  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  words  of  the  prophecy.  Uncover  thy  locks,  ^c.  "  Thy 
hair  shall  hang  about  thy  ears,  without  being  dressed  up  or 
adorned  with  a  diadem  ;  thou  shalt  lose  all  thy  firiery  and  those  orna- 
ments in  which  thou  didst  pride  thyself,  as  marks  of  thy  state ; 
and  the  persons  of  the  greatest  quality  shall  be  despoiled  of  their 
gaiety,  and  carried  captives  in  a  mean  and  ragged  condition."  Such 
was  the  interpretation  of  an  able  commentator  before  the  fact  was 
applied  to  the  prediction.  And  such  is  the  confirmation  which  it 
receives,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  century,  from  the  words 
omitted  by  a  translator,  but  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  old  as 
well  as  modern  editions  of  Diodorus. 

'  Para  te  servilibus  ministeriis.    Grot.  Isa.  xlvii.  2. 

*  Lowth.    Ibid.  3  Isa.  xiii.  11. 

24 


278  BABYLON. 

commanded  that  they  should  be  sold  ;  and  the  rich  and 
gay  apparel  of  the  proud  daughter  of  Babylon,  ill  suited 
to  the  wandering  exiles,  did  not  any  longer  befit  their 
station  or  their  toils.  The  mandates  of  those  who  at  dif- 
ferent times  had  been  appointed  over  her  were  obeyed ; 
but  it  had  long  before  been  written  concerning  the 
daughter  of  the  Chaldeans,  uncover  thy  locks,  malce  bare 
the  leg,  uncover  the  thigh,  pass  over  the  rivers,  &c.  Thou 
saidst,  I  shall  be  a  lady  for  ever :  so  that  thou  didst  not 
lay  these  things  to  thy  heart,  neitJier  didst  remember  the 
latter  end  of  U.^ 

The  temples  of  Babylon  were  rifled  of  their  idols  by 
Xerxes,  the  king  of  Persia,  till  the  weiglit  of  these  in 
gold  amounted  to  400,000  pounds.  Ptolemy  Euergetes 
having  extended  his  conquests  beyond  the  Euphrates, 
took  with  him  from  the  conquered  provinces,  on  his 
sudden  recall  and  hasty  return  into  Egypt,  2500  idols, 
some  of  which  Cambyses,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  who  reigned 
at  Babylon,  had  previously  taken  from  the  Egyptians. 
When  Babylon  was  exhausted  by  Seleucia,  40  miles  dis- 
tant, and  many  of  the  Babylonians  removed  to  that  city ; 
and  also  when  many  of  them  at  a  later  period  were  com- 
manded, together  with  all  their  households,  (Ttovotxtwj,) 
to  depart  to  Media;  it  may  be  presumed  that  their  house- 
hold gods,  though  a  hinderance  rather  than  a  help,  thus 
formed,  time  after  time,  a  portion  of  their  household 
effects  ;  and  that  when  their  temples  were  finally  burned, 
many  of  the  idols  were  carried  away  by  the  idolatrous 
Babylonians,  condemned  to  perpetuaJ  slavery  and  ban- 
ishment, in  their  weary  pilgrimage  to  the  far  distant 
land  of  their  enemies.  And  thus  it  was  written :  Their 
idols  were  upon  the  beasts,  and  upon  the  cattle,  your  car- 
riages were  heavy  loaden  ;  they  are  a  burden  to  the  weary 
beast.  They  stoop;  they  bow  down  together;  they  could 
not  deliver  tJie  burden; 

But  themselves  are  gone  into  captivity.^  Media,  from 
the  first,  was  called  to  besiege  Babylon ;  for  the  device 
of  the  Lord  was  against  Babylon  to  destroy  it.  And  in 
'  Isa.  xlvii.  2,  3,  7.  2  isa.  xlvi.  1,  2. 


BABYLON.  279 

the  latter  end,  308  years  after  the  siege,  and  582  years 
after  the  date  of  the  prophecy,  the  enslaved  Babylonians 
did  go  to  Media  into  captivity. 

Himerus,  an  Hyrcanian  by  birth,  was  but  a  youth,  if 
not  a  boy,  the  floridness  of  whose  juvenile  looks  (flore 
pueritice)  was,  together  with  the  casual  absence  of  the 
king,  the  cause  of  his  sudden  elevation  to  that  power 
which,  forgetful  of  his  former  state,  he  so  greatly  abused, 
as  to  excel  all  tyrants  in  cruelty.  And  while  the  full 
measure  of  his  severities,  of  which  none  were  omitted, 
was  the  cup  of  indignation  prepared  for  the  Babylonians, 
it  may  be  said  also  of  him :  Surely  the  least  of  the  flock 
shall  draw  them  out ;  surely  he  shall  make  their  habita- 
tion desolate  with  them.^  His  youth,  and  elevation  to 
power  from  such  a  cause,  may  mark  him  out  as  the  least 
of  the  flock ;  and  in  fulfilling  the  counsel  that  the  Lord 
had  taken  against  Babylon^  surely  he  at  once  drew  them 
out,  and  made  their  habitation  desolate  with  them. 

He  sent  them  forth  from  Babylon,  together  with  all 
their  households ;  many  of  the  Babylonians  had  pre- 
viously removed  with  all  their  effects  to  Seleucia ;  They 
shall  remove,  they  shall  depart,  both  man  and  beast. ^ 

The  temple  of  Belus,  first  built  to  bind  the  human 
race  to  the  plains  of  Shinar,  and  the  other  temples  of 
their  gods,  and  many  of  their  fine  houses,  while  yet  un- 
demolished,  may  have  long  tended  to  keep  the  lingering 
Babylonians  within  the  precincts  of  the  devoted  city. 
But  the  judgment  of  God  rested  on  the  most  magnificent 
of  their  temples,  as  well  as  on  the  proud  idolaters  and 
their  senseless  idols :  and  the  soothsayers,  tJie  star-gazers, 
and  the  monthly  prognosticators,  could  not  stand  up  and 
save  them  from  the  things  that  were  to  come  upon  them; 
and  the  time  was  come  when  the  temples  of  the  Baby- 
lonians could  no  longer  be  their  trust  or  their  resort,  and 
when  their  efforts  to  save  them  or  their  habitations  would 
be  in  vain.  For  it  is  expressly  related  that  Himerus  set 
fire  to  the  forum  and  some  of  the  temples,  and  destroyed 
the  fairest  part  of  the  city:  Behold,  they  shall  be  as  stub- 
'  Jer  1.  45.  2  jer.  1.  3. 


280  BABYLON. 

bU,  the  fire  slmll  hum  them  ;  they  shall  not  deliver  them- 
selves from  the  power  of  the  Jlame.^  The  people  shall 
labour  in  vain,  and  the  folk  in  the  fire,  and  they  shall  he 
weary,*  Bel  howeth  down;  JVebo  stoopeth;  1  will  punish 
Bel  in  Babylon ;  and  t/ie  nations  shall  not  flow  togetfier 
any  more  unto  him.^ 

It  is  tJie  vengeance  of  the  Lord :  take  vengeance  upon 
her:  as  she  hath  done,  do  unto  her.* — Wo  unto  them! 
for  their  day  is  come,  the  time  of  their  visitation.  The 
voice  oftJiem  thatfi^e  and  escape  out  oftlie  land  of  Baby- 
lon, to  declare  in  Zion  the  vengeance  of  the  Lord  our  God, 
the  vengeance  of  his  tetnple. — Recompense  her  according 
to  her  work  ;  according  to  all  that  she  hath  done,  do  unto 
her ;  for  slie  hath  been  proud  against  the  Lord,  against 
tlie  Holy  One  of  Israel.^ — /  will  render  unto  Babylon, 
and  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  Chaldea,  all  their  evil  that 
they  have  done  in  Zion  in  your  sight,  saith  the  Lord — 
The  Lord  God  of  recompenses  shall  surely  requite.^  The 
facts  relative  to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  and  the  captivity 
of  the  Jews  thus  take  the  place  of  predictions ;  and  a 
parallel  may  at  length  be  drawn  between  what  the  Baby- 
lonians did,  and  what  they  suffered. 

Bands  of  tlie  Chaldees,  and  bands  of  the  Syrians,  and 
bands  of  the  Moabites,  and  bands  of  the  children  of  Jim- 
mon  came  up  against  Judah  to  destroy  it  J  And  so  soon 
as  the  time  of  recompenses  began,  an  assembly  of  great 
nations,  gathered  together  out  of  all  the  countries  from 
Egypt  to  the  bounds  of  the  Caspian,  and  from  Lydia  to 
the  Persian  gulf,  came  up  against  Babylon. — JVebuchad^ 
nezzar  king  of  Babylon  came,  he,  and  all  his  host,  against 
Jerusalem,  and  pitched  against  it;  and  they  built  forts 
against  it  round  about,  and  the  city  was  besieged.^  Cyrus, 
having  prepared  the  nations  against  Babylon,  encamped 
against  it  round  about,  built  forts  against  it,^  and  laid 
siege  to  the  city,  which  had  long  been  the  terror  of  the 

'  Isa.  xl.  13,  14.  2  jer.  li.  58.  «  Jer.  li.  44 

*  Jer.  1.  15.  *  Jer.  1.  27,  28,  29.  e  jer.  li.  24,  56. 

'  2  Kings  xxiv.  2.  8  2  Kings  xxv.  1, 2 
9  Xen.  Cyr  lib.  vii.  c.  v.  p.  433. 


BABYLON.  281 

nations. — The  Chaldeans  took  Zedekiah,  the  king  of  Ju- 
dah,  and  gave  judgment  upon  him,  and  slew  his  sons  the 
PRINCES  OF  JUDAH  before  his  face  ;  and  the  captain  of  the 
Babylonish  guard  took  the  chief  priest  and  the  second 
priest,  and  tJie  officer  that  was  set  over  the  men  of  war, 
and  five  men  of  them  that  were  in  the  Jcingh  presence,  and 
the  principal  scribe,  which  mustered  the  people  of  tlie  land, 
and  threescore  others,  and  brought  them  to  the  king  of 
Babylon,  and  the  king  of  Babylon  smote  them  and  slew 
them^  And  in  the  night  in  which  Babylon  was  taken, 
the  king,  together  with  many  of  his  nobles,  was  slain. 
Nor  was  the  slaughter  of  the  chief  rulers  of  Israel  left 
unavenged,  when  Darius,  as  Herodotus  relates,  impaled 
3000  of  the  chief  nobility  of  Babylon.^ — Ml  the  army  of 
the  Chaldeans  brake  down  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  round 
about,^  and  thus  Darius  brake  down  the  wall  of  Babylon. 
■ — JVebuchadnezzar  carried  the  vessels  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord  to  Babylon,  and  put  them  in  his  temple  at  Babylon — 
and  all  the  vessels,  great  and  small,  and  the  treasures  of 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  treasures  of  tlie  king  and 
of  his  princes,  all  tJiese  he  brought  to  Babylon.* — The 
treasures  of  the  temple  of  Belus  became  the  property  of 
Cyrus  ;  and  Darius  and  Xerxes,  devoted  Magians  or  wor- 
shippers of  fire,  began  and  carried  on  against  it  the  re- 
venges of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  till  all  its  treasures 
were  exhausted,  and  all  its  idols  broken,  and  all  that  Bel 
had  swallowed  up  was  brought  forth  out  of  his  mouth. 
JYebuzaradan,  a  captain  of  the  guard,  a  servant  of  the 
king  of  Babylon,  came  unto  Jerusalem,  and  he  burned  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  kingh  house,  and  all  the  houses 
of  Jerusalem,  and  every  great  man's  house  burned 
HE  WITH  FIRE.*  Himcrus,  a  deputy  and  servant  of  the 
king  of  Parthia,  set  fire  to  the  forum  and  some  of  the 
temples  of  Babylon,  and  destroyed  the  best  oi  fairest 
parts  of  the  city. —  The  people  (of  Judah)  transgressed  very 
much,  they  mocked  the  messengers  of  the  Lord — therefore 

'  2  Kings  XXV.  6,  7,  18—21. 

3  2  Kings  XXV.  10.      4  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  7.    ^  2  Kings  xxv.  8,  9. 

24* 


282  BABYLON. 

he  brought  upon  them  the  king  of  the  Chaldees,  and  he 
gave  ALL  into  his  hands.^  The  captive  Jews  were  ser- 
vants to  JVebuchadnezzar  and  his  sons.  The  poorest  only 
of  the  people  of  the  land  were  left  to  he  vine-dressers  and 
htisbandmen,  and  to  serve  the  king  of  Babylon.  And 
when  the  conquerors  became  the  conquered,  Cyrus  held 
all  the  property  and  the  persons  of  the  Babylonians,  as 
given  unto  him.^  Having  taken  Babylon,  Cyrus  com- 
manded the  Babylonians,  on  pain  of  death,  to  deliver  up 
their  arms  ;  enacted  that  they  should  cultivate  the  land, 
and  pay  tribute,  and  serve  those  to  whom  they  were 
respectively  given,  and  he  ordered  the  Persians,  and 
their  allies,  to  speak  as  masters  or  lords  to  those  whom 
they  had  received.'  Addressing  his  assembled  chiefs, 
he  maintained  that  all  were  theirs  by  right  of  conquest, 
as  by  an  eternal  law,  and  that  they  had  entered  into  the 
possession  of  a  large  and  fertile  country,  and  of  a  people 
to  cultivate  it  for  their  use.  Successive  rulers  held  them 
in  the  same  dependent  state,  and  revolt  from  oppression 
finally  entailed  a  servitude  as  heavy  and  grievous  as  that 
which  they  had  formerly  exacted. — The  Babylonians  had 
made  the  Jews  to  serve  in  a  hard  bondage,  and  showed  them 
no  mercy,  but  laid  tJieir  yoke  very  heavily  upon  them.^ 
Cyrus  reduced  the  Babylonians  to  the  most  abject  state, 
to  secure  their  submission.*  Darius  after  their  rebellion 
tyrannized  over  them  more  cruelly  than  before.  The 
cruelties  exercised  by  the  idolaters  against  the  worship- 
pers of  the  God  of  Israel,  were  retaliated  on  themselves 
by  the  worshippers  of  fire,  and  enemies  of  idolatry.  And 
while  no  mercy  was  shown  unto  Israel,  Himerus,  excell- 
ing all  known  tyrants  in  cruelties,  exercised  them  all, 
and  omitted  no  sort  of  punishment,  or  showed  no  mercy 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Babylon.  Babylon,  that  led  Judah 
captive,  and  smote  the  people  in  wrath  with  a  continual 
stroke,  and  that  ruled  the  nations  in  anger,  became  the 

1  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  14,  16,  17. 

2  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  vii.  c.  v.  pp.  440,441. 

3  Ibid.  pp.  452, 453.  4  isa.  xiv.  3 ;  Jer.  xlvii.  6. 
6  Xen.  Cyr.  lib.  vii.  p.  451. 


BABYLON.  283 

victim  of  the  wrath  it  had  provoked,  and  was  smitten 
with  a  continual  stroke,  and  long  continued  to  be  the 
threshing-floor  of  the  nations,  though  400  years  had 
elapsed  from  its  subjection  to  Cyrus  till  its  enslaved  citi- 
zens, in  token  of  the  vengeance  of  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  went  forth  into  captivity,  dazzled  and  distressed  by 
the  blaze  of  the  temples  of  Babylon. 

The  "  golden  city,"  which  once  triumphed  over  Jeru- 
salem, thus  gradually  verged,  for  centuries,  towards 
poverty  and  desolation.  Notwithstanding  that  Cyrus 
resided  chiefly  at  Babylon,  and  sought  to  reform  the 
government  and  remodel  the  manners  of  the  Babylonians, 
the  succeeding  kings  of  Persia  preferred,  as  the  seat  of 
empire,  Susa,  Persepolis,  or  Ecbatana,  situated  in  their 
oion  country ;  and  in  like  manner  the  successors  of  Alex- 
ander did  not  attempt  to  complete  his  purpose  of  restoring 
Babylon  to  its  pre-eminence  and  glory ;  but,  afl;er  the 
subdivision  of  his  mighty  empire,  the  very  kings  of 
Assyria,  during  their  temporary  residence  even  in  Chal- 
dea,  deserted  Babylon,  and  dwelt  in  Seleucia.  And 
thus  the  foreign  inhabitants,  first  Persians,  and  after- 
wards Greeks,  imitating  their  sovereigns  by  deserting 
Babylon,  acted  as  if  they  verily  had  said, — Forsake  her^ 
and  let  us  go  every  man  unto  his  own  country  ;  for  her 
judgment  is  reached  unto  heaven,  and  is  lifted  up  even  to 
the  sides.  Babylon  shall  he  as  a  chased  roe,  and  as  a 
sheep  that  no  man  taketh  up  ;  they  shall  every  man  turn 
to  his  own  people,  andjke  every  one  into  his  own  land. 


Kindred  judgments — the  issue  of  common  crimes — 
rested  on  the  land  of  Chaldea,  as  well  as  on  its  doomed 
metropolis  ;  and  the  tracing  of  their  fulfilment  may  best 
lead  to  the  view  of  the  utter  desolation  of  fallen  Babylon. 

They  come  from  a  far  country,  from  the  end  of  tlie 
earth,  to  destroy  the  whole  land.  Many  nations  and  great 
kings  shall  serve  themselves  of  t/tee  also,  &c.  The 
Persians,  the  Macedonians,  the  Parthians,  the  Romans, 


284  BABYLON. 

the  Saracens,  and  the  Turks,  are  the  chief  of  the  many 
nations  who  have  unscrupulously  and  unsparingly  served 
themselves  of  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans :  and  Cyrus  and 
Darius,  kings  of  Persia ;  Alexander  the  Great,  and  Se- 
leucus,  king  of  Assyri-a ;  Demetrius  and  Antiochus  the 
Great;  Trajan,  Severus,  Julian,  and  Heraclius,  empe- 
rors of  Rome ;  the  victorious  Omar,  the  successor  of 
Mahomet ;  Holagou  and  Tamerlane,  are  great  kings, 
who  successively  subdued  or  desolated  Chaldea,  or  ex- 
acted from  it  tribute  to  such  an  extent,  as  scarcely  any 
other  country  ever  paid  to  a  single  conqueror.  And, 
though  the  names  of  some  of  these  nations  were  un- 
known to  the  Babylonians,  and  unheard  of  in  the  world 
at  the  tiitoe  of  the  prophecy,  most  of  these  many  nations 
and  great  kings  need  now  but  be  named,  to  show  that, 
in  local  relation  to  Chaldea,  They  came  from  the  utmost 
border^  from  the  coasts  oftJie  earth. 

They  are  cruel  both  in  anger  and  fierce  wrath  to  lay 
the  land  desolate,  &c.  The  Persians  vied  with  the 
Parthians  in  cruelty  and  fierceness  against  resisting  and 
against  subjugated  enemies.  Three  thousand  Babylo- 
nians were  at  once  impaled  by  order  of  Darius.  Con- 
quest was  the  object,  and  kindness  was  not  in  the  nature 
of  the  Macedonian  conquerors  of  Babylon.  The  posses- 
sion of  Chaldea  was  contested  between  Antigonus  and 
Seleucus,  and  ruler  rose  against  ruler.  After  its  long 
subjection  to  the  Seleucidae,  the  proverbially  cruel  Par- 
thians held  Babylonia  in  bondage.  In  the  second  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era,  the  Romans,  coming  from  afar, 
still  maintained  the  character  of  the  cruel  and  fierce 
desolators  of  Chaldea,  and  were  thus  the  unconscious 
instruments  of  the  fulfilment  of  other  prophecies.  "  Under 
the  reign  of  Marcus,  the  Roman  generals  penetrated  as 
far  as  Ctesiphon  and  Seleucia.  They  were  received  as 
friends  by  the  Greek  colony ;  they  attacked  as  enemies 
the  seat  of  the  Parthian  kings,  yet  both  cities  experienced 
the  same  treatment.  The  sack  and  conflagration  of 
Seleucia,  with  the  massacre  of  three  hundred  thousand  of 
the  inhatntantSy  tarnished  the  glory  of  the  Roman  triumph 


BABYLON.  285 

Seleucia  sunk  under  the  fatal  blow ;  but  Ctesiphon,  in 
about  thirty-three  years,  had  sufficiently  recovered  its 
strength  to  maintain  an  obstinate  siege  against  the  em- 
peror Severus."*  Ctesiphon  was  thrice  besieged  and 
thrice  taken  by  the  predecessors  of  Julian.  And  when 
attacked  by  Julian,  the  anger  of  that  Roman  emperor 
and  of  his  army  was  not  moderated,  nor  their  cruelty 
abated,  by  the  effectual  resistance  of  the  citizens  of 
Ctesiphon  against  sixty  thousand  besiegers.  "  The 
fields  of  Assyria  were  devoted  by  Julian  to  the  calamities 
of  war;  and  the  philosopher  retaliated  on  a  guiltless 
people  the  acts  of  rapine  and  cruelty  which  had  been 
committed  by  their  haughty  master  in  the  Roman  pro- 
vinces ;  the  Persians  beheld  from  the  walls  of  Ctesiphon 
the  desolation  of  the  adjacent  country."^  With  such 
violence  did  he  wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  inhabitants 
of  Chaldea,  that  their  fierce  wrath  was  conjoined  with 
the  cruelty  of  their  enemies  to  lay  the  land  desolate. 
"  The  extensive  region  that  lies  between  the  river  Tigris 
and  the  mountains  of  Media,  was  filled  with  villages  and 
towns ;  and  the  fertile  soil,  for  the  most  part,  was  in  a 
very  improved  state  of  cultivation. — But  on  the  approach 
of  the  Romans,  this  rich  and  smiling  prospect  was  in- 
stantly blasted.  Wherever  they  moved,  the  inhabitants 
deserted  the  open  villages,  and  took  shelter  in  the  forti- 
fied towns ;  the  cattle  were  driven  away ;  the  grass  and 
ripe  corn  were  consumed  with  fire  ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
flames  had  subsided  which  interrupted  the  march  of 
Julian,  he  beheld  the  melancholy  face  of  a  smoking  and 
NAKED  desert."^  But  "  the  second  city  of  the  province, 
large,  populous,  and  well  fortified,"  in  vain  resisted  a 
fierce  and  desperate  assault ;  and  a  large  breach  having 
been  made  by  a  battering-ram  in  the  walls,  "the  soldiers 
of  Julian  rushed  impetuously  into  the  town,  and  after  the 
full  gratification  of  every  military  appetite,  Perisabor 
was  REDUCED  TO  ASHES ;  and  the  engines  which  assaulted 

1  Gibbon,  vol.  i.  c.  viii.  p.  33.3. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  c.  xxiv.  pp.  169,  185. 

3  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  c.  xxiv.  pp.  191,  192. 


BABYLON. 

the  citadel  were  planted  on  the  ruins  of  the  smoking 
houses.^'*^  When,  in  after  ages,  the  Romans,  under  He- 
raclius,  penetrated  to  the  royal  seat  of  Destagered,  and 
spread  over  Chaldea  to  the  gates  of  Ctesiphon,  "  what- 
ever could  not  be  easily  transported,  they  consumed  with 
fire,  that  Chosroes  might  feel  the  anguish  of  those 
wounds  which  he  had  so  often  inflicted  on  the  provinces 
of  the  empire  ;  and  justice  might  allow  the  excuse," 
says  Gibbon,  "  if  the  desolation  had  been  confined  to 
the  works  of  regal  luxury ;  if  national  hatred,  military 
license,  and  religious  zeal,  had  not  wasted  with  equal 
rage  the  habitations  and  the  temples  of  the  guiltless  sub- 
jects."* The  fierce  Abassides,  proverbially  reckless  of 
committing  murder,  which  was  the  very  work  that  their 
missionaries  went  forth  to  execute,  long  reigned  over 
Chaldea;  and  Bagdad,  its  new  capital,  distant  about 
fifteen  miles  from  Seleucia  and  Ctesiphon,  was  their 
imperial  seat  for  five  hundred  years. ^  "  Their  daggers, 
their  only  arms,  were  broken  by  the  sword  of  Holagou, 
and  except  the  word  assassin,  not  a  vestige  is  left  of  the 
enemies  of  mankind  ;"^  for  again  and  again  has  it  proved 
true  of  the  land  of  Chaldea — /  will  destroy  the  sinners 
thereof  out  of  it.  The  Mogul  Tartars  succeeded  as  the 
guilty  possessors  and  cruel  desolators  of  tJie  land  of  Ba- 
bylon. "  Bagdad,  after  a  siege  of  two  months,  was 
stormed  and  sacked  by  the  Moguls,  under  Holagou 
Khan,  the  grandson  of  Ghengis  Khan."*  And  Tamer- 
lane, another  great  king,  "  reduced  to  his  obedience  the 
whole  course  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  from  the 
mouth  to  the  sources  of  these  rivers ;  and  he  erected  on 
the  ruins  of  Bagdad  a  pyramid  of  ninety  thousand 
heads."^  Finally,  not  with  abated,  but,  if  possible,  with 
increasing,  or  with  more  persevering  cruelty,  the  Turks, 
aided  by  Saracens,  Kurds,  and  Tartars,  have  become 

J  Gibbon,  vol.  iv.  c.  xxiv.  p.  170. 

2  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  c.  xlvi.  p.  253.  »  Ibid.  vol.  x.  c.  lii.  p.  35. 

4  Ibid.  vol.  xi.  ch.  Ixiv.  p.  417. 

5  Ibid.  vol.  xi.  ch.  Ixiv.  p.  418. 

*  Ibid.  vol.  cii.  c.  Ixv.  pp.  9 — 24. 


BABYLON.  287 

the  weapons  of  tJie  indignation  of  the  Lord,  brought  forth 
out  of  his  armoury  which  he  hath  opened  ;  for — fearful  as 
a  token  of  judgment,  and  clear  as  the  testimony  of  truth 
— this  is  the  work  of  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  in  the  land 
of  the  Chaldeans. —  Waste  and  utterly  destroy  after  them. 
Ji  sword  is  upon  the  Chaldeans.  A  sound  of  battle  is  in 
the  land,  and  of  great  destruction.  I  will  kindle  a  fire 
in  his  CITIES,  and  it  shall  devour  all  round  about  him. 
A  sound  of  great  destruction  cometh  from  the  land  of  the 
Chaldeans. 

And  Chaldea  shall  he  a  spoil  ;  all  that  spoil  her  shall 
he  satisfied,  saith  the  Lord.  Come  against  her  from  the 
utmost  horder,  open  her  storehouses.  A  sword  is  upon 
her  treasures,  and  they  shall  he  rohhed.  0  thou  that 
dwellest  upon  many  waters,  abundant  in  treasures,  thine 
end  is  come,  and  the  measure  of  thy  covetousness.  On 
taking  Babylon  suddenly  and  by  surprise,  Cyrus  became 
immediately  possessed  of  tlie  treasures  of  darkness,  and 
hidden  ricJies  of  secret  places.  On  his  first  publicly  ap- 
pearing in  Babylon,  all  the  officers  of  his  army,  both  of 
the  Persians  and  allies,  according  to  his  command,  wore 
very  splendid  robes,  those  belonging  to  the  superior 
officers  being  of  various  colours,  all  of  the  finest  and 
brightest  dye,  and  richly  embroidered  with  gold  and  sil- 
ver ;  and  thus  the  hidden  riclies  of  secret  places  were 
openly  displayed.  And  when  the  treasures  of  Babylon 
became  the  spoil  of  another  great  king,  Alexander  gave 
six  min(B  (about  15/.)*  to  each  Macedonian  horseman, 
to  each  Macedonian  soldier  and  foreign  horseman  two 
minse  (5/.,)  and  to  every  other  man  in  his  army,  a 
donation  equal  to  two  months'  pay.  Demetrius  ordered 
his  soldiers  to  plunder  the  land  of  Babylon  for  their  own 
use.^  But  it  is  not  in  these  instances  alone  that  Chaldea 
has  been  a  spoil,  and  that  all  who  spoil  her  have  been 
satisfied.  It  was  the  abundance  of  her  treasures  which 
brought  successive  spoliators.  Many  nations  came  from 
afar,  and  though  they  returned  to  their  own  country,  (as 
in  formerly  besieging  Babylon,  so  in  continuing  to  de- 
»  Plutarch,  Life  of  Demetrius. 


BABYLON. 

spoil  the  land  of  Chaldea,)  none  returned  in  vain.  From 
the  richness  of  the  country  new  treasures  were  speedily 
stored  up,  till  again  the  sword  came  upon  theiUy  and  they 
were  robbed.  The  prey  of  the  Persians  and  of  the  Greeks 
for  nearly  two  centuries  after, the  death  of  Alexander, 
Chaldea  became  afterwards  the  prey  chiefly  of  the  Par- 
thians,  for  an  equal  period,  till  a  greater  nation,  the 
Romans,  came  from  the  coasts  of  the  earth  to  pillage  it. 
To  be  restrained  from  dominion  and  from  plunder,  was 
the  exciting  cause,  and  often  the  shameless  plea,  of  the 
anger  and  fierce  wrath  of  these  famed  but  cruel  con- 
querors of  the  world.  Yet  within  the  provinces  of  their 
empire,  it  was  their  practice,  on  the  submission  of  the 
inhabitants,  to  protect  and  not  to  destroy.  But  Chaldea, 
from  its  extreme  distance,  never  having  yielded  penna- 
nently  to  their  yoke,  and  the  limits  of  their  empire  having 
been  fixed  by  Hadrian  on  the  western  side  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, or  on  the  very  borders  of  Chaldea,  that  hapless 
country  obtained  not  their  protection,  though  repeatedly 
the  scene  of  ruthless  spoliation  by  the  Romans.  The 
authority  of  Gibbon,  in  elucidation  of  Scripture,  cannot 
be  here  distrusted  any  more  than  that  of  heathen  histo- 
rians. To  use  his  words,  "  a  hundred  thousand  cap- 
tives, and  a  rich  booty,  rewarded  the  fatigues  of  the 
Roman  soldiers,"*  when  Ctesiphon  was  taken,  in  the 
second  century,  by  the  generals  of  Marcus.  Even 
Julian,  who,  in  the  fourth  century,  was  forced  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Ctesiphon,  came  not  in  vain  to  Chaldea,  and 
failed  not  to  talce  of  it  a  spoil ;  nor,  though  an  apostate, 
did  he  fail  to  verify  by  his  acts  the  truth  which  he  de- 
nied. After  having  given  Perisabor  to  the  flames,  "  the 
plentiful  magazines  of  com,  of  arms,  and  of  splendid  fur- 
niture, were  partly  distributed  among  the  troops,  and 
partly  reserved  for  the  public  service ;  the  useless  stores 
were  destroyed  by  fire,  or  thrown  into  the  streams  of  the 
Euphrates."^  Having  also  rewarded  his  army  with  a 
hundred  pieces  of  silver  to  each  soldier,  he  thus  stimulated 

'  Gibbon,  vol.  i.  ch.  viii.  p.  334. 
2  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  ch.  xxiv.  p.  171. 


BABYLON.  289 

ihem  (when  still  dissatisfied)  to  fight  for  greater  spoil — 
"  Riches  are  the  object  of  your  desires ;  those  riches  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  Persians ;  and  the  spoils  of  this  fruit- 
ful country  are  proposed  as  the  prize  of  your  valour  and 
discipline."^  The  enemy  being  defeated  after  an  arduous 
conflict,  "  the  spoil  was  such  as  might  be  expected  from 
the  riches  and  luxury  of  an  oriental  camp  ;  large  quanti- 
ties oj^  silver  and  gold y  splendid  arms  and  trappings,  and 
beds  and  tables  of  massy  silver."^ 

When  the  Romans,  under  Heraclius,  ravaged  Chal- 
dea,  "  though  much  of  the  treasure  had  been  removed 
from  Dastagered,  and  much  had  been  expended,  the  re- 
maining  wealth  appears  to  have  exceeded  their  hopes,  and 
even  to  have  satiated  their  avarice."^ 

While  the  deeds  of  Juhan  and  the  words  of  Gibbon 
show  how  Chaldea  was  spoiled — how  a  sword  continued 
to  be  on  her  treasures — and  how,  year  after  year^  and 
age  after  age,  there  was  rumour  on  rumour,  and  violence 
in  her  land,  and  that  all  that  spoil  her  would  he  satisfied 
— more  full  illustrations  remain  to  be  given  of  the  truth 
of  the  same  prophetic  word.  And  as  a  painter  of  great 
power  may  cope  with  another,  by  drawing  as  closely  to 
the  life  as  he,  though  the  features  be  different,  so  Gib- 
bon's description  of  the  sack  of  Ctesiphon,  as  previously 
he  had  described  the  sack  and  conflagration  of  Seleucia, 
(cities,  each  of  which  may  aptly  be  called  "  the  daughter 
of  Babylon,"  having  been,  like  it,  the  capital  of  Chal- 
dea,) is  written  as  if,  by  the  most  graphic  representation 
of  facts,  he  had  been  aspiring  to  rival  Volney  as  an  illus- 
trator of  Scripture  prophecy.  "  The  capital  was  taken 
by  assault ;  and  the  disorderly  resistance  of  the  people 
gave  a  keener  edge  to  the  sabres  of  the  Moslems,  who 
shouted  with  religious  transport,  *  This  is  the  white 
palace  of  Chosroes  ;  this  is  the  promise  of  the  apostle  of 
God.'  The  naked  robbers  of  the  desert  were  suddenly 
enriched  beyond  the  measure  of  their  hope  or  knowledge. 
Each  chamber  revealed  a  new  treasure,  secreted  with  art, 

'  Gibbon,  vol.  iv.  ch.  xxiv.  p.  176.        2  ibid.  vol.  iv.  c.  xxiv.  p.  184. 
3  Ibid.  vol.  viii.  c.  xlvi.  p.  352. 

25 


290  BABYLON. 

or  ostentatiously  displayed ;  the  gold  and  silver,  the 
various  wardrobes  and  precious  furniture,  surpassed 
(says  Abulfeda)  the  estimate  of  fancy  or  numbers ;  and 
another  historian  defines  the  untold  and  almost  infinite 
mass  by  the  fabulous  computation  of  three  thousands  of 
thousands  of  thousands  of  pieces  of  gold.  One  of  the 
apartments  of  the  palace  was  decorated  with  a  carpet  of 
silk  sixty  cubits  in  length,  and  as  many  in  breadth,  (90 
feet ;)  a  paradise,  or  garden,  was  depicted  on  the 
ground  ;  the  flowers,  fruits,  and  shrubs  were  imitated  by 
the  figures  of  the  gold  embroidery,  and  the  colours  of  the 
precious  stones ;  and  the  ample  square  was  encircled  by 
a  variegated  and  verdant  border.  The  rigid  Omar  di- 
vided the  pnze  ■Amowg  his  brethren  of  Medina  ;  the  picture 
was  destroyed  ;  but  such  was  the  intrinsic  value  of  the 
materials,  that  the  share  of  Ali  alone  was  sold  for  20,000 
drachms.  A  mule  that  carried  away  the  tiara  and  cuirass, 
the  belt  and  bracelets  of  Chosroes,  was  overtaken  by  the 
pursuers ;  the  gorgeous  trophy  was  presented  to  the 
commander  of  the  faithful,  and  the  gravest  of  the  com- 
panions condescended  to  smile  when  they  beheld  the 
white  beard,  hairy  arms,  and  uncouth  figure  of  the 
veteran  who  was  invested  with  the  spoil  of  the  great 
kingy^ 

Recent  evidence  is  not  wanting  to  show,  that,  wher- 
ever a  treasure  is  to  be  found,  a  sword,  in  the  hand  of  a 
fierce  enemy,  is  upon  it,  and  spoliation  has  not  ceased 
in  the  land  of  Chaldea. 

"  On  the  west  of  Hillah,  there  are  two  towns,  which, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Persians  and  all  the  Shiites,  are  ren- 
dered sacred  by  the  memory  of  two  of  the  greatest  mar- 
tyrs of  that  sect.  These  are  Meshed  Ali  and  Meshed 
Housein,  IdXeiy  filled  with  riches,  accumulated  by  the  de- 
votion of  the  Persians,  but  carried  off  by  the  ferocious 
Wahabees  to  the  middle  of  their  deserts."^ 

And,  after  the  incessant  spoliation  of  ages,  now  that 

'  Gibbon,  vol.  ix.  ch.  li.  pp.  370,  371. 

2  Malte-Brun's  Geog.  vol.  ii.  p.  119;  Buckingham's  Travels  in 
Mesopotamia,  vol.  ii.  p.  246. 


BABYLON.  291 

the  end  is  cmne  of  the  treasures  of  Chaldea,  the  earth 
itself  fails  not  to  disclose  its  hidden  treasures^  so  as  to 
testify  that  they  once  were  abundant.  In  proof  of  this 
an  instance  may  be  given.  At  the  ruins  of  Hoomania, 
near  to  those  of  Ctesiphon,  pieces  of  silver  having  (on 
the  5th  of  March,  1812)  been  accidentally  discovered, 
edging  out  of  the  bank  of  the  Tigris,  "  on  examination, 
there  were  found  and  brought  away,"  by  persons  sent 
for  that  purpose  by  the  pasha  of  Bagdad's  officers,  "  be- 
tween six  and  seven  hundred  ingots  of  silver,  each  mea- 
suring from  one  to  one  and  a  half  feet  in  length ;  and  an 
earthen  jar,  containing  upwards  of  two  thousand  Athe- 
nian coins,  all  of  silver.  Many  were  purchased  at  the 
time  by  the  late  Mr.  Rich,  formerly  the  East  India  Com- 
pany's resident  at  Bagdad,  and  are  now  in  his  valuable 
collection,  since  bought  by  government,  and  deposited 
in  the  British  Museum."^  Amidst  the  ruins  of  Ctesi- 
phon, "  the  natives  often  pick  up  coins  of  gold,  silver, 
and  copper,  for  which  they  always  find  a  ready  sale  in 
Bagdad.  Indeed,  some  of  the  wealthy  Turks  and  Ar- 
menians, who  are  collecting  for  several  French  and  Ger- 
man consuls,  hire  people  to  go  and  search  for  coins, 
medals,  and  antique  gems ;  and  I  am  assured  they  never 
return  to  their  employers  empty-handed  ;"^ — as  if  all 
who  spoil  Chaldea  shall  he  satisfied^  till  even  the  ruins 
be  spoiled  unto  the  uttermost. 

The  past  history  of  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans  may  be 
briefly  closed  in  the  language  of  prophecy ;  for  the  pro- 
phets, in  their  visions,  saw  it  as  it  is ;  although  histo- 
rians knew  not,  even  after  its  grandeur  was  partially 
gone,  how  to  tell  of  its  fertility,  which  they  witnessed, 
and  hope  to  be  believed.  Those  who  recorded  the 
word  that  the  Lord  spake  against  Babylon,  and  against 
the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  had  no  such  fear,  though  two 
thousand  four  hundred  years  have  elapsed  since  they  de- 
scribed what  is  now  only  at  last  to  be  seen. 

/  will  punish  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  will  make 
it  perpetual  desolations :  cut  of  t/ie  sower  from  Babylon, 

'  Captain  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  53.  2  jbid.  p.  74, 


292  BABYLON. 

and  him  that  handleth  the  sickle  in  tlie  tirne  of  harvest. 
A  drought  is  on  tlie  waters,  and  tliey  shall  he  dried  up. 
Belwld  the  hindermost  of  the  nations,  a  dry  land  and  a 
desert.  Her  cities  are  a  desolation,  a  di-y  land  and  a 
wilderness,  a  land  where  no  man  dwelleth,  neither  doth 
son  of  man  pass  thereby.  I  will  send  unto  Babylon  fan- 
ners that  shall  fan  fier,  and  empty  her  land.  The  land 
shall  tremble  and  sorrow  ;  for  every  purpose  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  performed  against  Babylon,  to  make  the  land  of 
Babylon  a  desolation  without  an  inhabitant. 

The  land  of  the  Chaldeans  was  to  be  made  perpetual 
or  long-continued  desolations.  Ravaged  and  spoiled  for 
ages,  the  Chaldees'  excellency  finally  disappeared,  and 
the  land  became  desolate,  as  still  it  remains.  Rauwolff, 
who  passed  through  it  in  1574,  describes  the  country  as 
bare,  and  "  so  dry  and  barren  that  it  cannot  be  tilled."' 
And  the  most  recent  travellers  all  concur  in  describing 
it  in  similar  terms. 

The  land  of  Babylon  was  to  be  fanned  and  emptied — 
to  be  a  dry  land,  a  wilderness,  and  a  desert,  &c. — On  the 
one  side,  near  to  the  site  of  Opis,  "  the  country  all  around 
appears  to  be  one  wide  desert  of  sandy  and  barren  soil, 
thinly  scattered  over  with  brushwood  and  tufts  of  reedy 
grass  "^  On  the  other,  between  Bussorah  and  Bagdad, 
"  immediately  on  either  bank  of  the  Tigris,  is  the  un- 
trodden desert.  The  absence  of  all  cultivation, — the 
sterile,  arid,  and  wild  character  of  the  whole  scene, 
formed  a  contrast  to  the  rich  and  delightful  accounts  de- 
lineated in  Scripture.  The  natives,  in  travelling  over 
these  pathless  deserts,  are  compelled  to  explore  their  way 
by  the  stars."^  "  The  face  of  the  country  is  open  and 
flat,  presenting  to  the  eye  one  vast  level  plain,  where 
nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  here  and  there  a  herd  of  half- 
wild  camels.  This  immense  tract  is  very  rarely  diversi- 
fied with  any  trees  of  moderate  growth,  but  is  an  im- 

1  Rauwolflf's  Travels,  in  Ray's   Collection  of  Travels,  1693, 
p.  164. 

2  Buckingham's  Travels  in  Mesopotamia,  vol.  ii.  p.  156. 
^  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  5. 


BABYLON.  293 

mense  wild  bounded  only  by  the  horizon."^  In  the 
intermediate  region,  "  the  whole  extent  from  the  foot  of 
the  wall  of  Bagdad  is  a  barren  waste,  without  a  blade 
of  vegetation  of  any  description;"  on  leaving  the  gates, 
the  traveller  has  before  him  "  the  prospect  of  a  bare 
desert,  a  flat  and  barren  country.  .  .  .  The  whole  country 
between  Bagdad  and  Hillah  is  a  perfectly  flat  and  (with 
the  exception  of  a  few  spots  as  you  approach  the  latter 
place)  uncultivated  waste.^''^  "  That  it  was  at  some  for- 
mer period  in  a  far  different  state,  is  evident  from  the 
number  of  canals  by  which  it  is  traversed,  now  dry  and 
neglected ;  and  the  quantity  of  heaps  of  earth  covered 
with  fragments  of  brick  and  broken  tiles,  which  are  seen 
in  every  direction, — the  indisputable  traces  of  former 
population.  At  present  the  only  inhabitants  of  the  tract 
are  the  Sobeide  Arabs. "^  ^'Around,  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach,  is  a  trackless  desert. '^'^^  "  The  abundance  of 
the  country  has  vanished  as  clean  away  as  if  the  ^  besom 
of  desolation'  had  swept  it  from  north  to  south;  the  whole 
land,  from  the  outskirts  of  Babylon  to  the  farthest  stretch 
of  sight,  lying  a  melancholy  waste.  JYot  a  habitable  spot 
appears  for  countless  miles."*  The  land  of  Babylon  is 
desolate  without  an  inhabitant.  The  Arabs  traverse  it ; 
and  every  man  met  with  in  the  desert  is  looked  on  as  an 
enemy.  Wild  beasts  have  now  their  home  in  the  land 
of  Chaldea ;  but  the  traveller  is  less  afraid  of  them, — 
even  of  the  lion, — than  of  "the  wilder  animal,  the  desert 
Arab."  The  country  is  frequently  "  totally  impassable." 
"  Those  splendid  accounts  of  the  Babylonian  lands, 
yielding  crops  of  grain  two  or  three  hundredfold,  com- 
pared with  the  modern  face  of  the  country,  afford  a  re- 
markable proof  of  the  singular  desolation  to  which  it 

1  Mignan's  Travels,  pp.  31,  32;  Keppel's  Nar.  vol.  i.  p.  260; 
Buckingham's  Travels,  p.  242 ;  Kinneir's  Memoir  of  Persia, 
p.  279. 

2  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  4. 

3  Transactions  of  the  Literary  Society  at  Bombay,  vol.  i.  pp. 
123,  138  ;  Captain  Frederick  on  the  State  of  Babylon. 

4  Keppel's  Nar.  p.  87. 

»  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels  in  Babylonia,  «fec.,  /ol.  ii.  p.  285. 
25* 


294  BABYLON. 

has  been  subjected.     The  canals  at  present  can  only  be 
traced  by  their  decayed  banks."* 

"  The  soil  of  this  desert,"  says  Captain  Mignan,  who 
traversed  it  on  foot,  and  who,  in  a  single  day,  crossed 
forty  ancient  water-courses,  "  consists  of  a  hard  clay, 
mixed  with  sand,  which  at  noon  becomes  so  heated  with 
the  sun's  rays,  that  I  found  it  too  hot  to  walk  over  it 
with  any  degree  of  comfort.  Those  who  have  crossed 
those  desert  wilds,  are  already  acquainted  with  their 
dreary  tediousness  even  on  horseback :  what  it  is  on  foot 
they  can  easily  imagine."" 

Where  astronomers  first  registered  eclipses,  and  marked 
the  motions  of  the  planetary  bodies,  the  natives,  as  in 
the  deserts  of  Africa,  or  as  the  mariner  without  a  com- 
pass on  the  pathless  ocean,  can  now  direct  their  course 
only  by  the  stars,  over  the  pathless  desert  of  Chaldea. 
Where  cultivation  reached  its  utmost  height,  and  where 
tvvo  hundredfold  was  stated  as  the  common  produce, 
there  is  now  one  wide  and  uncultivated  waste ;  and  the 
sower  and  reaper  are  cut  off  from  the  land  of  Babylon,, 
Where  abundant  stores  and  treasures  were  laid  up,  and 
annually  renewed  and  increased,  fanners  have  fanned^ 
and  spoilers  have  spoiled  them  till  they  have  emptied  the 
land.  Where  labourers,  shaded  by  palm-trees  a  hundred 
feet  high,  irrigated  the  fields  till  all  was  plentifully  wa- 
tered from  numerous  canals,  the  wanderer,  without  an 
object  on  which  to  fix  his  eye,  but  "  stinted  and  short- 
lived shrubs,"  can  scarcely  set  his  foot  without  pain, 
after  the  noonday  heat,  on  the  "  arid  and  parched 
ground,"  in  plodding  his  weary  way  through  a  desert, 
a  dry  land,  and  a  wilderness.  Where  there  w^ere  crowded 
thoroughfares  from  city  to  city,  there  is  now  "  silence 
and  solitude  ;"  for  the  ancient  cities  of  Chaldea  are  deso' 
lotions, — wJiere  no  man  dwelleth,  n£ither  doth  any  son  of 
man  pass  thereby.^ 

«  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  2.  2  ibjd.  pp.  2,  31—34. 

'  Sin  has  wrought  desolation  in  Chaldea,  as,  finally,  if  unre- 
pented  of,  it  must  in  any  and  in  every  land.     But  justice  shall  yet  1 
dwell  in  the  wilderness,  and  righteousness  remain  in  the  fruitful 


BABYLON.  295 

Her  cities  are  desolations.  The  course  of  the  Tigris 
through  Babylonia,  instead  of  being  adorned,  as  of  old, 
with  cities  and  towns,  is  marked  with  the  sites  of  "  an- 
cient ruins.  "^  Sitace,  Sabata,  Narisa,  Fuchera,  Sendia, 
"no  longer  exist."^  A  succession  of  longitudinal 
mounds,  crossed  at  right  angles  by  others,  mark  the  sup- 
posed site  of  Artemita,  or  Destagered.  Its  once  luxu- 
riant gardens  are  covered  with  grass;  and  a  higher 
mound  distinguishes  "  the  royal  residence"  from  the 
ancient  streets.^  Extensive  ridges  and  mounds  (near  to 
field :  and — not  in  Judea  alone,  on  the  restoration  and  conversion 
of  all  the  house  of  Israel,  but  throughout  all  nations  when  en- 
lightened by  the  word  of  God,  and  renewed  by  his  Spirit,  moved 
by  whom  the  prophets  spake, — the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be 
peace;  and  the  effect  of  righteousness,  quietness  and  assurance 
forever.  (Isa.  xxxii.  15 — 17.)  And  it  is  pleasing  to  pause  for  a 
moment,  and  to  turn  from  the  direful  retrospect  of  sin,  judgment, 
and  desolation,  which  the  past  history  of  Chaldea  holds  up  to 
view,  to  a  word  of  Scripture,  (one  word,  if  rightly  interpreted,  is 
enough,)  which,  like  a  bright  star  in  the  east,  shines  as  the  har- 
binger of  a  brighter  day,  after  the  long  night  of  darkness  which 
has  rested  on  that  land  which  was  full  of  wickedness,  and  there- 
fore has  been  emptied  in  judgment.  And  seemingly  commencing 
convulsions,  in  the  war  and  the  trial  of  principles,  throughout  the 
wide  world,  that  must  come — the  rising  "  hurricane"  which,  con- 
trolled by  the  Lord,  shall  yet  sweep  every  moral  "  pestilence"  from 
the  earth,  seem,  in  their  beginning,  to  betoken  that  the  time  may 
not  be  distant,  when  the  effect  of  the  vision  shall  be  seen.  Then 
said  I  to  the  angel  that  talked  with  me,  (Zechariah  v.  10, 11,)  whither 
do  these  bear  the  ephah  ?  And  he  said  unto  me,  To  build  it  an  house  in 
the  land  of  Shinar ;  and  it  shall  be  established,  and  set  there  on  its  own 
base, — in  the  land  of  Shinar,  but  it  is  not  said,  in  the  city  of  Baby- 
lon. Building,  establishing,  and  setting,  all  appear  to  be  significa- 
tive of  blessing — of  reconstruction  on  a  new  base,  and  not  reduci- 
ble to  heaps:  and  though  the  previous  vision  be  of  judgment,  he 
whose  name  is  The  Branch,  is  immediately  after  spoken  of;  and, 
in  "  building  the  temple  of  the  Lord,"  his  office  is  redemption.  But, 
without  a  metaphor,  it  is  said, — and,  without  a  doubt,  it  shall  prove 
true, — All  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord.  The  whole  earth  shall  rejoice, — the  wilderness  and  the  soli- 
tary places  shall  be  glad  for  them  ;  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice,  and 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

'  See  Chart  prefixed  to  Major  Keppel's  Narrative. 

2  Plan  of  the  Environs  of  Babylon,  &c.,  in  Major  Kennel's  Geo 
graphy  of  Herodotus,  p.  335. 

3  Keppel's  Narrative,  vol.  i.  p.  267. 


296  BABYLON. 

Houmania,)  varying  in  height  and  extent,  are  seen 
branching  in  every  direction.''^  A  wall,  with  sixteen 
bastions,  is  the  onl^  memorial  of  Apollonia.^  The  once 
magnificent  Seleucia  is  now  a  scene  of  desolation.  There 
is  not  a  single  building,  but  th^  country  is  strewed  for 
miles  with  fragments  of  decayed  buildings.  "  As  far," 
says  Major  Keppel,  "  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  horizon 
presented  a  broken  line  of  mounds ;  the  whole  of  this 
place  was  a  desert  flat."^  On  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Tigris,  where  Ctesiphon  its  rival  stood,  besides  fragments 
of  walls  and  broken  masses  of  brick- work,  and  remains 
of  vast  structures  encumbered  with  heaps  of  earth,  there 
is  one  magnificent  monument  of  antiquity,  "  in  a  re- 
markably perfect  state  of  preservation,"  "  a  large  and 
noble  pile  of  building,  the  front  of  which  presents  to 
view  a  wall  three  hundred  feet  in  length,  adorned  with 
four  rows  of  arched  recesses,  with  a  central  arch,  in  span 
eighty-six  feet,  and  above  an  hundred  feet  high,  sup- 
ported by  walls  sixteen  feet  thick,  and  leading  to  a  hall 
which  extends  to  the  depth  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
feet,"  the  width  of  the  building.*  A  great  part  of  the 
back  w^all  and  of  the  roof  is  broken  down ;  but  that 
which  remains  "  still  appears  much  larger  than  Westmin- 
ster Abbey. "^  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  lofty 
palace  of  Chosroes ;  but  there  desolation  now  reigns. 
"  On  the  site  of  Ctesiphon,  the  smallest  insect  under 
heaven  would  not  find  a  single  blade  of  grass  wherein 
to  hide  itself,  nor  one  drop  of  water  to  allay  its  thirst."" 
In  the  rear  of  the  palace,  and  attached  to  it,  are  mounds 
two  miles  in  circumference,  indicating  the  utter  desola- 
tion of  buildings,  formed  to  minister  to  luxury.  But,  in 
the  words  of  Captain  Mi^nan,  "  such  is  the  extent  of  the 
irregular  mounds  and  hillocks  that  overspread  the  sites 
of  these  renowned  cities,  that  it  would  occupy  some 

'  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  49.  2  Keppel,  p.  276. 

3  Keppel's  Narrative,  p.  125.  ♦  Ibid.  p.  130. 

5  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  79. 
*  Buckingham,  p.  441. 


BABYLON.  297 

months  to  take  the  bearings  and  dimensions  of  each  with 
accuracy."^ 

While  the  ancient  cities  of  Chaldea  are  thus  desolate, 
the  sites  of  others  cannot  be  discovered,  or  have  not  been 
visited,  as  none  pass  thereby ;  the  more  modern  cities, 
which  flourished  under  the  empire  of  the  Cahfs,  "  are  all 
in  ruins."-  The  second  Bagdad  has  not  indeed  yet 
shared  the  fate  of  the  first.  And  Hillah — a  town  of 
comparatively  modern  date,  near  to  the  site  of  Babylon, 
but  in  the  gardens  of  which  there  is  not  the  least  vestige 
of  ruins — yet  exists.  But  the  former,  "  ransacked  by 
massacre,  devastation,  and  oppression,  during  several 
hundred  years,"  has  been  "  gradually  reduced  from  being 
a  rich  and  powerful  city,  to  a  state  of  comparative  po- 
verty, and  the  feeblest  means  of  defence."^  And  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  latter,  about  eight  or  ten  thousand,  it 
is  said  that  if  any  thing  could  identify  the  modern  inha- 
bitants of  Hillah  as  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Baby- 
lonians, it  would  be  their  extreme  profligacy,  for  which 
they  are  notorious  even  amongst  their  immoral  neigh- 
bours."'* They  give  no  sign  of  repentance  and  reforma- 
tion to  warrant  the  hope  that  judgment,  so  long  continued 
upon  others,  will  cease  from  them ;  or  that  they  are  the 
people  that  shall  escape.  Twenty  years  have  not  passed 
since  towns  in  Chaldea  have  been  ravaged  and  pillaged 
by  the  Wahabees ;  and  so  lately  as  1823,  the  town  of 
Shehreban  "  was  sacked  and  ruined  by  the  Kurds," 
and  reduced  to  desolation.^  Indications  of  ruined  cities, 
whether  of  a  remote  or  more  recent  period,  abound 
throughout  the  land.  The  process  of  destruction  is  still 
completing.  Gardens  which  studded  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris  have  very  recently  disappeared,  and  mingled  with 
the  desert;  and  concerning  the  cities  also  of  Chaldea, 
the  word  is  true  that  they  are  desolations.  For  "  the 
whole  country  is  strewed  over  with  the  debris  of  Gre* 

1  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  81.  2  Mignan's  Travels,?.  82. 

3  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  265,  266. 

4  Keppel's  Narrative,  vol.  i.  pp.  182,  183. 
^  Ibid.  pp.  272,  278. 


298  BABYLON. 

cian,  Roman,  and  Arabian  towns,  confounded  in  the 
same  mass  of  rubbish."^ 

But  while  these  lie  in  indiscriminate  ruins,  the  chief 
of  the  cities  of  Chaldea,  the  first  in  name  and  in  power 
that  ever  existed  in  the  world,,  bears  many  a  defined 
mark  of  the  judgments  of  Heaven. 

FALLEN  BABYLON. 

The  progressive  and  predicted  decline  of  Babylon  the 
Great,  till  it  ceased  to  be  a  city,  has  already  been  briefly 
detailed.  About  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  a 
small  portion  of  it  was  inhabited,  and  the  far  greater  part 
was  cultivated.^  It  diminished  as  Seleucia  increased, 
and  the  latter  became  the  greater  city.  In  the  second 
century  nothing  but  the  walls  remained.  It  became  gra- 
dually a  great  desert;  and,  in  the  fourth  century,  its 
walls,  repaired  for  that  purpose,  formed  an  enclosure  for 
wild  beasts,  and  Babylon  was  converted  into  a  field  for 
the  chase — a  hunting-place  for  the  pastime  of  the  Per- 
sian monarchs.  The  name  and  the  remnant  were  cut 
off'  from  Babylon ;  and  there  is  a  blank,  during  the  in- 
terval of  many  ages,  in  the  history  of  its  mutilated 
remains  and  of  its  mouldering  decay.  It  remained  long 
in  the  possession  of  the  Saracens  ;  and  abundant  evi- 
dence has  since  been  given,  that  every  feature  of  its 
prophesied  desolation  is  now  distinctly  visible,  for  the 
most  ancient  historians  bore  not  a  clearer  testimony  to 
facts  confirmatory  of  the  prophecies  relative  to  its  first 
siege  and  capture  by  Cyrus,  than  the  latest  travellers 
bear  to  the  fulfilment  of  those  which  refer  to  its  final  and 
permanent  ruin.  The  identity  of  its  site  has  been  com- 
pletely established.^  And  the  truth  of  every  general 
and  every  particular  prediction  is  now  so  clearly  demon- 
strated, that  a  simple  exhibition  of  the  facts  precludes 

•  Malte-Brun's  Geography,  vol.  ii.  p.  119. 

2  Died.  Sic.  torn.  ii.  p.  35. 

3  Rennell's  Geography  of  Herodotus,  p.  349 ;  Keppel's  Narra- 
tive, p.  171. 


BABYLON.  299 

the  possibility  of  any  cavil,  and  supersedes  the  necessity 
of  any  reasoning  on  the  subject. 

It  is  not  merely  the  general  desolation  of  Babylon — 
however  much  that  alone  would  have  surpassed  all 
human  foresight — which  the  Lord  declared  by  the  mouth 
of  his  prophets.  In  their  vision,  they  saw  not  more 
clearly,  nor  defined  more  precisely,  the  future  history  of 
Babylon,  from  the  height  of  its  glory  to  the  oblivion  of 
its  name,  than  they  saw  and  depicted  fallen  Babylon  as 
now  it  lies,  and  as,  in  the  nineteenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  it  has,  for  the  first  time,  been  fully  de- 
scribed.* And  now,  when  aii  end  has  come  upon  Babylon, 
after  a  long  succession  of  ages  has  wrought  out  its  utter 
desolation,  both  the  pen  and  the  pencil  of  travellers,  who 
have  traversed  and  inspected  its  ruins,  must  be  com- 
bined, in  order  to  delineate  what  the  word  of  God,  by 
the  prophets,  told  from  the  beginning  that  that  end 
would  be. 

Truth  ever  scorns  the  discordant  and  encumbering  aid 
of  error :  but  to  diverge  in  the  least  from  the  most  pre- 
cise facts,  would  here  weaken  and  destroy  the  argument ; 
for  the  predictions  correspond  not  closely  with  any  thing, 
except  alone  with  the  express  and  literal  reality.  To 
swerve  from  it  is,  in  the  same  degree,  to  vary  from 
them :  and  any  misrepresentation  would  be  no  less  hurt- 
ful than  iniquitous.  But  the  actual  fact  renders  any 
exaggeration  impossible,  and  any  fiction  poor.  Fancy 
could  not  have  feigned  a  contrast  more  complete,  nor  a 
destruction  greater  than  that  which  has  come  from  the 
Almighty  upon  Babylon.  And  though  the  greatest  city 
on  which  the  sun  ever  shone  is  now  a  desolate  wilder- 
ness, there  is  scarcely  any  spot  on  earth  more  clearly 
defined — and  none  could  be  more  accurately  delineated 
by  the  hands  of  a  draftsman — than  the  scene  of  Baby- 
1  Niebuhr,  Ives,  Irwin,  Ottar,  Evirs,  Thevenot,  Delia  Valle, 
Texeira,  Edrisi,  Abulfeda,  and  Balbi,  were  consulted  by  Major 
Rennell ;  to  these  may  now  be  added,  Mr.  Rich,  Sir  Robert  Ker 
Porter,  Captain  Frederick,  the  Hon.  Major  Keppel,  Colonel  Ken- 
neir,  Mr.  Buckingham,  and  Captain  Mignan, — most  of  whom  were 
accompanied  by  others. 


300  BABYLON. 

Ion's  desolation  is  set  before  us  in  the  very  words  of  the 
prophets ;  and  no  words  could  now  be  chosen  like  unto 
those,  which  for  two  thousand  five  hundred  years  have 
been  its  "  burden" — the  burden  which  now  it  bears. 

Such  is  the  multiplicity  of  prophecies  and  the  accu- 
mulation of  facts,  that  the  very  abundance  of  evidence 
increases  the  difficulty  of  arranging  them,  in  a  condensed 
form,  and  thus  appropriating  its  specific  fulfiknent  to 
each  precise  and  separate  prediction  ;  and  many  of  them 
may  be  viewed  connectedly.  All  who  have  visited 
Babylon  concur  in  acknowledging  or  testifying  that  the 
desolation  is  exactly  such  as  was  foretold.  They,  in 
general,  apply  the  more  prominent  predictions  ;  and,  in 
minute  details,  they  sometimes  unconsciously  adopt,  with- 
out any  allusion  or  reference,  the  words  of  inspiration. 

Babylon  is  wholly  desolate.  It  has  ,become  heaps ; 
it  is  cut  down  to  the  ground ;  brought  down  to  the 
grave  ;  trodden  on  ;  uninhabited  ;  its  foundations  fallen ; 
its  walls  thrown  down,  and  utterly  broken  ;  its  loftiest 
edifices  rolled  down  from  the  rocks  ;  the  golden  city  has 
ceased ;  the  worms  are  spread  under  it,  and  the  worms 
cover  it,  .&c.  There  the  Arabian  pitches  not  his  tent ; 
there  the  shepherds  make  not  their  folds ;  but  wild  beasts 
of  the  desert  lie  there,  and  their  houses  are  full  of  dole- 
ful creatures,  and  owls  dwell  there,  &c.  It  is  a  posses- 
sion for  the  bittern,  and  a  dwelling-place  for  dragons  ;  a 
wilderness,  a  dry  land  and  a  desert ;  a  burnt  mountain ; 
pools  of  water ;  spoiled ;  empty ;  nothing  left ;  utterly 
destroyed ;  every  one  that  goeth  by  it  is  astonished,  &c. 
&c.  &c. 

Babylon  shall  become  heaps.  Babylon,  the  glory  of 
kingdoms,  is  now  the  greatest  of  ruins,  "  Immense 
tumuli  of  temples,  palaces,  and  human  habitations  of 
every  description,"  are  everywhere  seen,  and  form 
^*  long  and  varied  lines  of  ruins,"  which  in  some  places, 
"  rather  resemble  natural  hills  than  mounds  which  cover 
the  remains  of  great  and  splendid  edifices."^  Those 
buildings  which  were  once  the  labour  of  slaves  and  the 
>  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  294,  297. 


BABYLON.  301 

pride  of  kings,  are  now  misshapen  heaps  of  rubbish. 
"  The  whole  face  of  the  country  is  covered  with  vestiges 
of  building,  in  some  places  consisting  of  brick  walls 
surprisingly  fresh,  in  others,  merely  a  vast  succession  of 
mounds  of  rubbish,  of  such  indeterminate  figures,  variety 
and  extent,  as  to  involve  the  person  who  should  have 
formed  any  theory,  in  inextricable  confusion."^  "  Long 
mounds  running  from  north  to  south,  are  crossed  by 
others  from  east  to  west ;"  and  are  only  distinguished 
by  their  form,  direction,  and  number,  from  the  decayed 
banks  of  canals.  "  The  greater  part  of  the  mounds  are 
certainly  the  remains  of  buildings,  originally  disposed  in 
streets,  and  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles."^  The 
more  distinct  and  prominent  of  these  "  heaps"  are 
double,  or  lie  in  parallel  lines,  each  exceeding  twenty 
feet,  and  "  are  intersected  by  cross  passages,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  place  beyond  a  doubt  the  fact  of  their  being 
rows  of  houses  or  streets  fallen  to  decay.  "^  Such  was 
the  form  of  the  streets  of  Babylon,  leading  towards  the 
gates  ;  and  such  are  now  the  lines  of  its  heaps.  "  There 
are  also,  in  some  places,  two  hollow  channels,  and  three 
mounds,  running  parallel  to  each  other  for  a  considerable 
distance,  the  central  mound  being,  in  such  cases,  a 
broader  and  flatter  mass  than  the  other  two,  as  if  there 
had  been  two  streets  going  parallel  to  each  other,  the 
central  range  of  houses  which  divided  them  being  twice 
the  size  of  the  others,  from  their  being  double  residences, 
with  a  front  and  door  of  entrance  to  face  each  avenue."^ 
"  Irregular  hillocks  and  mounds,  ybrmec^  over  masses  of 
ruins,  present  at  every  step  memorials  of  the  past."^ 

From  the  temple  of  Belus  and  the  two  royal  palaces, 
to  the  streets  of  the  city  and  single  dwellings,  all  have 
become  heaps  ;  and  the  only  difference  or  gradation  now 
is  from  the  vast  and  solid  masses  of  ruins  which  look 
like  mountains,  to  the  slight  mound  that  is  scarcely  ele- 

1  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  2. 

2  Buckingham's  Travels  in  Mesopotamia,  vol.  ii.  p.  298. 

3  Ibid.  p.  299.  4  Ibid. 
6  Mignan's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  116. 

26 


302  BABYLON. 

vated  above  the  plain.  Babylon  is  fallen^  literally 
FALLEN  to  such  a  degree  that  those  who  stand  on  its 
site  and  look  on  numerous  parallel  mounds,  with  a  hol- 
low space  between,  are  sometimes  at  a  loss  to  distinguish 
between  the  remains  of  a  streej;  or  a  canal,  or  to  tell 
where  the  crowds  frequented  or  where  the  waters  flowed. 
Babylon  is  fallen  ^  till  its  ruins  cannot  fall  lower  than  they 
lie.  It  is  cut  down  to  the  ground.  Her  foundations  are 
fallen;  and  the  ruins  rest  not  on  them.  Its  palaces, 
temples,  streets  and  houses,  lie  "  buried  in  shapeless 
heaps."^  And  "the  view  of  Babylon,"  as  taken  from 
the  spot,  is  truly  a  picture  of  utter  desolation,  presenting 
its  heaps  to  the  eye,  and  showing  how,  as  if  literally 
buried  under  them,  Babylon  is  brought  down  to  tlw  grave. 

Cast  her  up  as  heaps.  Mr.  Rich,  in  describing  a  grand 
heap  of  ruins,  the  shape  of  which  is  nearly  a  square  of 
seven  hundred  yards  in  length  and  breadth,  states  that 
the  workmen  pierce  into  it  in  every  direction,  in  search 
of  bricks,  "  hollowing  out  deep  ravines  and  pits,  and 
throwing  up  the  rubbish  in  heaps  on  the  surface."* 
"  The  summit  of  the  Kasr,"  (supposed  to  have  been  the 
lesser  palace,)  is  in  like  manner  "  covered  with  heaps  of 
rubbish.''^ 

Let  nothing  of  her  be  left.  "  Vast  heaps  constitute  all 
that  now  remains  of  ancient  Babylon."^  All  its  grand- 
eur is  departed  ;  all  its  treasures  have  been  spoiled  ;  all 
its  excellence  has  utterly  vanished ;  the  very  heaps  are 
searched  for  bricks  when  nothing  else  can  be  found; 
even  these  are  not  left  wherever  they  can  be  taken 
away,  and  Babylon  has  for  ages  been  "  a  quarry  above 
ground,"  ready  to  the  hand  of  every  successive  de- 
spoiler.  Without  the  most  remote  allusion  to  this  pro- 
phecy. Captain  Mignan  describes  a  mound  attached  to 
the  palace,  ninety  yards  in  breadth  by  half  that  height, 
the  whole  of  which  is  deeply  furrowed  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  generality  of  the  mounds.  "  The  ground  is 
extremely  soft,  and  tiresome  to  walk  over,  and  appears 

'  Porter's  Travels,  p.  294.  2  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  32 

3  Keppel's  Narrative,  p.  196. 


BABYLON.  303 

completely  exhausted  of  all  its  building  materials :  nothing 
now  is  left  save  one  towering  hill,  the  earth  of  which  is 
mixed  ^f^iih.  fragments  of  broken  brick,  red  varnished  pot- 
tery, tile,  bitumen,  mortar,  glass,  shells,  and  pieces  of 
mother  of  pearl, "^ — w^orthless  fragments,  of  no  value  to  the 
poorest.  From  tJience  shall  she  he  taken — let  nothing  of 
her  be  left.  One  traveller,  towards  the  end  of  last  cen- 
tury, passed  over  the  site  of  ancient  Babylon,  without 
being  conscious  of  having  traversed  it.^ 

Babylon  shall  be  pools  of  water.  While  the  workmen 
cast  her  up  as  heaps  in  piling  up  the  rubbish  while  ex- 
cavating for  bricks,  that  they  may  take  thevcifrom  thence, 
and  that  nothing  may  be  left;  they  labour  more  than 
trebly  in  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  for  the  numerous 
and  deep  excavations  form  pools  of  water  on  the  over- 
flowing of  the  Euphrates,  and,  annually  filled,  they  are 
not  dried  up  throughout  the  year.  Deep  cavities  are 
also  formed  by  the  Arabs,  when  digging  for  hidden 
treasure."^  "  The  ground  is  sometimes  covered  with 
pools  of  water  in  the  hollows."'' 

Sit  on  the  dust,  sit  on  the  ground,  0  daughter  of  the 
Chaldeans.  The  surface  of  the  mounds,  which  form  all 
that  remains  of  Babylon,  consists  of  decomposed  build 
ings,  reduced  to  dust ;  and  over  all  the  ancient  streets 
and  habitations,  there  is  literally  nothing  but  the  dust  or 
the  ground  on  which  to  sit. 

Thy  nakedness  shall  be  uncovered.  "  Our  path,"  says 
Captain  Mignan,  "  lay  through  the  great  mass  of  ruined 
heaps  on  the  site  of  ^  shrunken  Babylon.'  And  I  am 
perfectly  incapable  of  conveying  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
dreary,  lonely  nakedness  that  appeared  before  me."^ 

Sit  thou  silent,  and  get  thee  into  darkness.  There 
reigns  throughout  the  ruins  "  a  silence  as  profound  as 

1  Mignan's  Travels,  pp.  199,  200. 

2  Transactions  of  the  Literary  Society  at  Bombay,  vol.  i.  p.  130 ; 
Note,  Cunningham's  Journey  to  India,  1785. 

3  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  213. 

4  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  296 ;  Keppel's  Travels,  vol.  i» 
p.  125. 

5  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  116. 


804  BABYLON. 

the  grave."*  Babylon  is  now  a  "  silent  scene,  a  sublime 
solitude."* 

It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  nor  dwelt  in  from  genera' 
fion  to  generation.  From  Rauwolff's  testimony  it  ap- 
pears that  in  the  sixteenth  c^tury  "  there  was  not  a 
house  to  be  seen."^  And  now  "  the  eye  wanders  over 
a  barren  desert,  in  which  the  ruins  are  nearly  the  only 
indication  that  it  ever  had  been  inhabited."  "  It  is  im- 
possible," adds  Major  Keppel,  "  to  behold  this  scene 
and  not  to  be  reminded  how  exactly  the  predictions  of 
Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  have  been  fulfilled,  even  in  the  ap- 
pearance Babylon  was  doomed  to  present,  that  slie  should 
never  be  inhabited;  that  the  ^Arabian  should  not  pitch 
his  tent  there ;'  that  she  should  *  become  heaps ;'  that 
her  cities  should  be  *  a  desolation,  a  dry  land,  and  a  wil- 
derness.' "'*  "  Babylon  is  spurned  alike  by  the  heel  of 
the  Ottomans,  the  Israelites,  and  the  sons  of  Ishmael."* 
It  is  "a  tenantless  and  desolate  metropolis."^  It  shall 
not  be  inhabited,  but  be  wholly  desolate. 

JSTeither  shall  the  .Arabian  pitch  tent  t/iere ;  neither  shall 
the  shepherds  maJce  their  folds  there.  It  was  prophesied 
of  Ammon  that  it  should  be  a  stable  for  camels  and  a 
couching-place  for  flocks ;  and  of  Philistia,  that  it  should 
be  cottages  for  shepherds,  and  a  pasture  for  flocks.  But 
Babylon  was  to  be  visited  with  a  far  greater  desolation, 
and  to  become  unfit  or  unsuiting  even  for  such  a  pur- 
pose. And  that  neither  a  tent  would  be  pitched  there, 
even  by  an  Arab,  nor  a  fold  made  by  a  shepherd,  im- 
plies the  last  degree  of  solitude  and  desolation.  "  It  is 
common  in  these  parts  for  shepherds  to  make  use  of 
ruined  edifices  to  shelter  their  flocks  in."^  But  Babylon 
is  an  exception.  Instead  of  taking  the  bricksyVom  thence, 
the  shepherd  might  with  facility  erect  a  defence  from  wild 
beasts,  and  make  a  fold  for  his  flock  amidst  the  heaps  of 
Babylon ;  and  the  Arab  who  fearlessly  traverses  it  by 

I  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  294.  2  ibid.  p.  407. 

3  Ibid.  p.  174. 

*  Keppel's  Narrative,  vol.  i.  p.  107.  s  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  108 

e  Ibid.  p.  234.  7  Ibid.  p.  2.35 


S    3] 


BABYLON.  305 

day,  might  pitch  his  tent  by  night.  But  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  could  now  be  persuaded  to  remain  a  single 
night  among  the  ruins.  The  superstitious  dread  of  evil 
spirits,  far  more  than  the  natural  terror  of  the  wild  beasts, 
effectually  prevents  them.  Captain  Mignan  was  accom- 
panied by  six  Arabs,  completely  armed,  but  he  "  could 
not  induce  them  to  remain  towards  night,  from  the  ap- 
prehension of  evil  spirits.  It  is  impossible  to  eradicate 
this  idea  from  the  minds  of  these  people,  who  are  very 
deeply  imbued  with  superstition."  And  when  the  sun 
sunk  behind  the  Mujelibe,  and  the  moon  would  have 
still  lighted  his  way  among  the  ruins,  it  was  with  infinite 
regret  that  he  obeyed  "  the  summons  of  his  guides. ^"^^ 
^^All  the  people  oftlie  country  assert  that  it  is  extremely 
dangerous  to  approach  this  mound  after  night-fall,  on 
account  of  the  multitude  of  evil  spirits  by  which  it  is 
haunted."^  JYeither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there, 
neither  shall  the  shepherds  make  their  folds  there.     But 

Wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there,  and  tlieir  houses 
shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures ;  and  owls  shall  dwell 
tliere,  and  satyrs  (goats)  shall  dance  there,  &c.  "  There 
are  many  dens  of  wild  beasts  in  various  parts.  There 
are  quantities  of  porcupine  quills."  (kephud?)  And 
while  the  lower  excavations  are  often  pools  of  water, 
"  in  most  of  the  cavities  are  numbers  of  bats  and  owls.^''^ 
"  These  souterrains,  (caverns,)  over  which  the  chambers 
of  majesty  may  have  been  spread,  are  now  the  refuge  of 
jackals  and  other  savage  animals.  The  mouths  of  their 
entrances  are  strewed  with  the  bones  of  sheep  and  goats  ; 
and  the  loathsome  smell  that  issues  from  most  of  them  is 
suflScient  warning  not  to  proceed  into  the  den."^  The 
king  of  the  forest  now  ranges  over  the  site  of  that  Baby- 
lon which  Nebuchadnezzar  built  for  his  own  glory.  And 
the  temple  of  Belus,  the  greatest  work  of  man,  is  now 
like  unto  a  natural  den  of  lions.     "  Two  or  three  majes- 

1  Mignan's  Travels,  pp.  201,  235. 

2  Rich's  Mem.  p.  27 ;  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  397. 

3  Ibid.  p.  30. 

•^  ?ir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  342. 
26* 


306  BABYLON. 

tic  lions"  were  seen  upon  its  heights,  by  Sir  Robert  Ker 
Porter,  as  he  was  approaching  it ;  and  "  the  broad  prints 
of  their  feet  were  left  plain  in  the  clayey  soil."^  Major 
Keppel  saw  there  a  similar  foot-print  of  a  lion.  It  is 
also  the  unmolested  retreat  of  jackals,  hyenas,  and  other 
noxious  animals.*  Wild  beasts  are  "  numerous"  at  the 
Mujelibi,  as  well  as  on  Birs  JSPimrood.  "  The  mound 
was  full  of  large  holes ;  we  entered  some  of  them,  and 
found  them  strewed  with  the  carcasses  and  skeletons  of 
animals  recently  killed.  The  ordure  of  wild  beasts  was 
so  strong  that  prudence  got  the  better  of  curiosity,  for 
we  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  savage  nature  of  the  inha- 
bitants. Our  guides,  indeed,  told  us  that  all  the  ruins 
abounded  in  lions  and  other  wild  beasts ;  so  literally  has 
the  divine  prediction  been  fulfilled,  that  wild  beasts  of 
the  desert  should  lie  there,  and  their  houses  be  full  of 
doleful  creatures ;  that  the  wild  beast  of  the  islands  shall 
cry  in  their  desolate  houses."^ 

The  sea  is  cojne  upon  Babylmi.  She  is  covered  with  the 
multitude  of  the  waves  thereof.  The  traces  of  the  western 
bank  of  the  Euphrates  are  now  no  longer  discernible. 
The  river  overflows  unrestrained ;  and  the  very  ruins, 
"  with  every  appearance  of  the  embankment,"  have  been 
swept  away.  "  The  ground  there  is  low  and  marshy, 
and  presents  not  the  slightest  vestige  of  former  buildings, 
of  any  description  whatever.""*  "  Morasses  and  ponds 
tracked  the  ground  in  various  parts.  For  a  long  time 
afler  the  general  subsiding  of  the  Euphrates,  great  part 
of  this  plain  is  little  better  than  a  swamp,"  &c.*  "  The 
ruins  of  Babylon  are  then  inundated,  so  as  to  render  many 
parts  of  them  inaccessible,  by  converting  the  valleys 
among  them  into  morasses."^  But  while  Babylon  is  thus 
covered  with  the  multitude  of  waves  and  the  waters  come 
upon  it,  yet,  in  striking  contrast  and  seeming  contradic- 

>  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  387. 

2  Kinneir's  Memoir,  p.  279. 

3  Keppel's  Narrative,  vol.  i.  pp.  179,  180. 

*  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  278. 

*  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  il  pp.  389,  390. 

*  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  13. 


BABYLON.  307 

tion  to  such  a  feature  of  desolation,  (like  the  formation 
of  pools  of  water  from  the  casting  up  of  heaps,)  at  all 
times  the  elevated  sun-burnt  ruins,  which  the  waters  do 
not  overflow,  and  generally  throughout  the  year,  the 
"  dry  waste,  and  parched  and  burning  plain,"^  on  which 
the  heaps  of  Babylon  lie,  equally  prove  that  it  is  a  desert^ 
a  dry  land,  and  a  wilderness.  One  part,  even  on  the 
western  side  of  the  river,  is  "  low  and  mar  shy ,  and  ano- 
ther an  arid  desert."^ 

It  shall  never  he  inhabited.  It  shall  he  utterly  desolate, 
"  Ruins  composed,  like  those  of  Babylon,  of  heaps  of 
rubbish  impregnated  with  nitre,  cannot  be  cultivated."' 
"  The  decomposing  materials  of  a  Babylonian  structure 
doom  the  earth  on  which  they  perish  to  everlasting  ste- 
rility. On  this  part  of  the  plain,  both  where  traces  of 
buildings  were  left,  and  where  none  had  stood,  all  seemed 
equally  naked  of  vegetation ;  the  whole  ground  appear- 
ing as  if  it  had  been  washed  over  and  over  again,  by 
the  coming  and  receding  waters,  till  every  bit  of  genial 
soil  was  swept  away ;  its  half-clay,  half-sandy  surface 
being  left  in  ridgy  streaks,  like  what  is  often  seen  on 
the  flat  shores  of  the  sea  after  the  retreating  of  the  tide."* 
Babylon,  which  in  its  pride  did  say,  I  shall  be  a  lady  for 
ever  is  no  more  called  the  lady  of  kingdoms,  but  is  deso- 
late for  ever. 

Bel  boweth  down.  The  temple  of  Belus  or  Baal,  here 
evidently  spoken  of,  was  a  stadium,  or  furlong,  in  height, 
computed  by  Major  Rennell  at  five  hundred,  and  by 
Prideaux  at  six  hundred  feet.  By  the  lowest  computa- 
tion it  was  higher  than  the  greatest  of  the  pyramids.  The 
highest  of  the  heaps  which  now  constitute  fallen  Babylon, 
is  the  Birs  Nimrood,  generally  supposed  to  have  been  the 
temple  of  Belus.  The  heap  occupies  a  larger  space  of 
ground  than  that  on  which  the  temple  stood,  having 
spread  in  falling  down,  beyond  its  original  base.    It  rests 

'  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  302,  305. 

2  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  139.    Plan. 

3  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  16. 

''  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  392. 


308  BABYLON. 

not  now  upon  its  ancient  foundations,  but  lies  upon  the 
earth,  an  enormous  mass  o£  ruin.  "  At  first  sight  it 
presents  the  appearance  of  a  hill,  with  a  castle  at  the 
top,"^  so  as  not  only  to  deceive  the  eye  in  beholding  it 
at  a  distance,  or  in  looking  on  its  picture  ;  but,  "  incredi- 
ble as  it  may  seem,  the  ruins  on  the  summit  of  it  are 
actually  those  spoken  of  by  P6re  Emanuel,  who  takes 
no  sort  of  notice  of  the  prodigious  mound  on  which  they 
are  elevated.  It  is  almost  needless  to  observe,  that  the 
whole  of  the  mound  is  itself  a  ruin  ;"='  and  it  is  altoge- 
ther needless  to  add  another  word,  to  show  that  it  is 
bowed  down,  as  maybe  seen  by  the  sketch  here  inserted, 
of  the  comparative  ancient  and  modern  height  annexed 
to  the  Plan  of  Birs  Nimrood,  in  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter's 
Travels.8 

ELEVATION  OF  BIRS  NIMROOD  (NORTH  FACE)  ACCORDING 
TO  STBABO  AND  HERODOTUS. 


The  dotted  lines 


J" -f)       ■■  »^       thoto  the  present 


Supposed 
entrance, 


:ii^-"t'"^       ^ 


500  feet. 
PLAN   OF   BIRS   NIMROOD. 

Bel  is  confounded.  Originally  constructed  of  eight 
successive  towers,  one  rising  above  another,  it  is  now 
consolidated  into  one  irregular  hill,  presenting  a  different 
aspect  and  of  different  altitudes  on  every  side, — a  con- 
fused and  misshapen  mass.  "  The  eastern  face  presents 
two  stages  of  hill ;  the  first  showing  an  elevation  of 
about  sixty  feet,  cloven  in  the  middle  into  a  deep  ravine, 

>  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  192.  2  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  37. 

3  Vol.  ii.  p.  323. 


BABYLON.  309 

and  intersected  in  all  directions  by  furrows  channelled 
there  by  the  descending  rains  of  succeeding  ages.  The 
summit  of  this  first  stage  stretches  in  rather  a  flattened 
sweep  to  the  base  of  the  second  ascent,  which  springs 
out  of  the  first  in  a  steep  and  abrupt  conical  form,  termi- 
nated on  the  top  by  a  solitary  standing  fragment  of  brick- 
work, like  the  ruin  of  a  tower.  From  the  foundation 
of  the  whole  pile  to  the  base  of  this  piece  of  ruin,  mea- 
sures about  two  hundred  feet,  and  from  the  bottom  of  the 
ruin  to  its  shattered  top  are  thirty-five  feet.  On  the 
western  side,  the  entire  mass  rises  at  once  from  the  plain 
in  one  stupendous,  though  irregular,  pyramidal  hill, 
broken,  in  the  slopes  of  its  sweeping  acclivities,  by  the 
devastations  of  time  and  rougher  destruction.  The 
southern  and  northern  fronts  are  particularly  abrupt."* 
Such,  and  so  confounded  is  now  the  temple  of  Belus. 

/  will  stretch  out  mine  hand  upon  thee,  and  roll  thee 
down  from  the  rocks,  and  will  make  thee  a  burnt  mountain. 
On  the  summits  of  the  hill  are  "  immense  fragments  of 
brick- work  of  no  determinate  figures,  tumbled  together, 
and  converted  into  solid  vitrified  masses."^  "  Some  of 
these  huge  fragments  measured  twelve  feet  in  height,  by 
twenty-four  in  circumference  ;  and  from  the  circumstance 
of  the  standing  brick- work  having  remained  in  a  perfect 
state,  the  change  exhibited  in  these  is  only  accountable 
from  their  having  been  exposed  to  the  fiercest  fire,  or 
rather,  scathed  hy  lightning ^^  "  They  are  completely 
molten — a  strong  presumption  that  fire  was  used  in  the 
destruction  of  the  tower,  which  in  parts  resembles  what 
the  Scriptures  prophesied  it  should  become,  ^  a  burnt 
mountain.'  In  the  denunciation  respecting  Babylon,  fire 
is  particularly  mentioned  as  an  agent  against  it.  To  this 
Jeremiah  evidently  alludes,  when  he  says  that  it  should 
be,  'as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,'  on 
which  cities,  it  is  said,  *  the  Lord  rained  brimstone  and 
fire.'  '  Her  high  gates  shall  be  burned  with  fire,  and  the 
people  shall  labour  in  vain,  and  the  folk  in  the  fire,  and 

1  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  310. 

2  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  36.  3  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  207. 


810  BABYLON. 

they  shall  be  weary.'  "*  "  In  many  of  these  immense 
unshapen  masses,  might  be  traced  the  gradual  effects  of 
the  consuming  power,  which  had  produced  so  remarkable 
an  appearance ;  exhibiting  parts  burnt  to  that  variegated 
dark  hue,  seen  in  the  vitrified  matter  lying  about  in  glass 
manufactories ;  while,  through  the  whole  of  these  awful 
testimonies  of  the  fire,  (whatever  fire  it  was !)  which, 
doubtless,  hurled  them  from  their  original  elevation," 
{I  will  roll  tJiee  down  from  the  rocks,)  "the  regular  lines 
of  the  cement  are  visible,  and  so  hardened  in  common 
with  the  bricks,  that  when  the  masses  are  struck  they 
ring  like  glass.  On  examining  the  base  of  the  standing 
wall,  contiguous  to  these  huge  transmuted  substances,  it 
is  found  tolerably  free  from  any  similar  changes,  in  short, 
quite  in  its  original  state ;  hence,"  continues  Sir  Robert 
Ker  Porter,  "  I  draw  the  conclusion,  that  the  consuming 
power  acted  from  above,  and  that  the  scattered  ruin  fell 
from  some  higher  point  than  the  summit  of  the  present 
standing  fragment.  The  heat  of  the  fire  which  produced 
such  amazing  effects,  must  have  burned  with  the  force 
of  the  strongest  furnace ;  and  from  the  general  appear- 
ance of  the  cleft  in  the  wall,  and  these  vitrified  masses, 
I  should  be  induced  to  attribute  the  catastrophe  to  light- 
ning from  heaven.  Ruins,  by  the  explosion  of  any  com- 
bustible matter,  would  have  exhibited  very  different  ap- 
pearances."^ 

"  The  fallen  masses  bear  evident  proof  of  the  opera- 
tion of  fire  having  been  continued  on  them,  as  well  after 
they  were  broken  down  as  before,  since  every  part  of 
their  surface  has  been  so  equally  exposed  to  it,  that  many 
of  them  have  acquired  a  rounded  form,  and  in  none  can 
thf  place  of  separation  from  its  adjoining  one  be  traced 
by  any  appearance  of  superior  freshness,  or  any  exemp- 
tion from  the  influence  of  the  destroying  flame.  "^ 

The  high  gates  of  the  temple  of  Belus,  which  were 
standing  in  the  time  of  Herodotus,  have  been  burnt  with 

»  Keppel's  Narrative,  pp.  194,  195. 

2  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  li.  pp.  312,  31? 

5  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  376. 


BABYLON.  311 

fire;  the  vitrified  masses,  which  fell  when  Bel  hawed 
down,  rest  on  the  top  of  its  stupendous  ruins.  The  hand 
of  tlie  Lord  has  been  stretched  upon  it ;  it  has  been  rolled 
down  from  the  rocks,  and  has  been  made  a  burnt  moun- 
tain,— of  which  it  was  farther  prophesied, 

They  shall  not  take  of  thee  a  stone  for  a  corner,  nor  a 
stone  for  foundations,  but  thou  shall  be  desolate  for  ever, 
saith  the  Lord.  The  old  wastes  of  Zion  shall  be  built ; 
its  former  desolations  shall  be  raised  up  ;  and  Jerusalem 
shall  be  inhabited  again  in  her  own  place,  even  in 
Jerusalem.  But  it  shall  not  be  with  Bel  as  with  Zion, 
nor  with  Babylon  as  with  Jerusalem.  For  as  the  "  heaps 
of  rubbish,  impregnated  with  nitre,"  which  cover  the 
site  of  Babylon,  "  cannot  be  cultivated,"^  so  the  vitrified 
masses  on  the  summit  of  Birs  Nimrood  cannot  be  re- 
built. Though  still  they  be  of  the  hardest  substance, 
and  indestructible  by  the  elements,  and  though  once  they 
formed  the  highest  pinnacles  of  Belus,  yet,  incapable  of 
being  hewn  into  any  regular  form,  they  neither  are  nor 
can  now  be  taken  for  a  corner  or  for  foundations.  And 
the  bricks  on  the  solid  fragments  of  wall,  which  rest  on 
the  summit,  though  neither  scathed  nor  molten,  are  so 
firmly  cemented,  that,  according  to  Mr.  Rich,  "  it  is  nearly 
impossible  to  detach  any  of  them  whole, "^  or,  as  Captain 
Mignan  still  more  forcibly  states,  "  they  are  so  firmly  ce- 
mented, that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  detach  any  of 
them."^  "  My  most  violent  attempts,"  says  Sir  Robert 
Ker  Porter,  "  could  not  separate  them  ;"^  and  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham, in  assigning  reasons  for  lessening  the  wonder  at 
the  total  disappearance  of  the  walls  at  this  distant  period, 
and  speaking  of  the  Birs  Nimrood  generally,  observes, 
that  "  the  burnt  bricks  (the  only  ones  sought  after)  which 
are  found  in  the  Mujelibe,  the  Kasr,  and  the  Birs  Nim- 
rood, the  only  three  great  moiiuments  in  which  there  are 
any  traces  of  their  having  been  used,  are  so  difficult,  in 
the  two  last  indeed  so  impossible,  to  be  extracted  whole, 
from  the  tenacity  of  the  cement  in  which  they  are  laid, 

'  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  16.  2  ibj^.  p.  26. 

3  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  206.  ^  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  311. 


312  BABYLON. 

that  they  could  never  have  been  resorted  to  while  any 
considerable  portion  of  the  walls  existed  to  furnish  an 
easier  supply;  even  now,  though  some  portion  of  the 
mounds  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river"  (the  Birs  is  on 
tlie  western  side)  "  are  occasionally  dug  into  for  bricks, 
they  are  not  extracted  without  a  comparatively  great 
expense,  and  very  few  of  them  whole,  in  proportion 
to  the  great  number  of  fragments  that  come  up  with 
them.*  Around  the  tower  there  is  not  a  single  whole 
brick  to  be  seen.^ 

These  united  testimonies,  given  without  allusion  to  the 
prediction,  afford  a  better  than  any  conjectural  commen- 
tary, such  as  previously  was  given  without  reference  to 
these  facts. 

While  of  Babylon,  in  general,  it  is  said  that  it  would 
be  taken  from  tkence  ;  and  while,  in  many  places,  nothing 
is  left ;  yet,  of  the  burnt  mountain^  which  forms  an  accu- 
mulation of  ruins  enough  in  magnitude  to  build  a  city, 
men  do  not  take  a  stone  for  foundations  nor  a  stone  for  a 
corner.  Having  undergone  the  action  of  the  fiercest  fire, 
and  being  completely  molten,  the  masses  on  the  sum- 
mit of  Bel,  on  which  the  hand  of  the  Lord  has  been 
stretched,  cannot  be  reduced  into  any  other  form  or  sub- 
stance, nor  be  built  up  again  by  the  hand  of  man.  And 
the  tower  of  Babel,  afterwards  the  temple  of  Belus, 
which  witnessed  the  first  dispersion  of  mankind,  shall 
itself  be  witnessed  by  the  latest  generation,  even  as  now 
it  stands  desolate  for  ever, — an  indestructible  monument 
of  human  pride  and  folly,  and  of  divine  judgment  and 
truth.  The  greatest  of  the  ruins,  as  once  of  the  edifices 
of  Babylon,  is  rolled  down  into  a  vast,  indiscriminate, 
cloven,  confounded,  useless,  and  blasted  mass,  from 
which  fragments  might  be  hurled  with  as  little  injury  to 
the  ruined  heap,  as  from  a  bare  and  rocky  mountain's 
side.  Such  is  the  triumph  of  the  word  of  the  living  God 
over  the  proudest  of  the  temples  of  Baal. 

Merodach  is  hrolcen  in  pieces.     Merodach  was  a  name 

'  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  332. 
2  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  329. 


Babylon.  313 

or  title  common  to  the  princes  and  kings  of  Babylon,  of 
which,  in  the  brief  scriptural  references  to  their  history, 
two  instances  are  recorded,  viz.  Merodach-Baladan  the 
son  of  Baladan,  king  of  Babylon,  who  exercised  the 
office  of  government,  and  Evil-Merodach,  who  lived  in 
the  days  of  Jeremiah.  From  Merodach  being  here  asso- 
ciated with  Bel,  or  the  temple  of  Belus,  and  from  the 
similarity  of  their  judgments — the  one  bowed  down  and 
confounded^  and  the  other  broken  in  pieces — it  may  rea- 
sonably be  inferred  that  some  other  famous  Babylonian 
building  is  here  also  denoted ;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
the  express  identity  of  the  name  with  that  of  the  kings 
of  Babylon,  and  even  with  Evil-Merodach,  then  resid- 
ing there,  it  may  with  equal  reason  be  inferred  that,  un- 
der the  name  of  Merodach,  the  palace  is  spoken  of  by 
the  prophet.  And  next  to  the  idolatrous  temple,  as  the 
seat  of  false  worship  which  corrupted  and  destroyed  the 
nations,  it  may  well  be  imagined  that  the  royal  residence 
of  the  despot  who  oppressed  the  people  of  Israel,  and 
made  the  earth  to  tremble,  would  be  selected  as  the 
marked  object  of  the  righteous  judgments  of  God.  And 
secondary  only  to  the  Birs  Nimrood,  in  the  greatness  of 
its  ruins,  is  the  Mujelibe  or  Makloube,  generally  under- 
stood and  described  by  travellers  as  the  remains  of  the 
chief  palace  of  Babylon. 

The  palace  of  the  king  of  Babylon  almost  vied  with 
the  great  temple  of  their  god.  And  there  is  now  some 
controversy,  in  which  of  the  principal  mountainous  heaps 
the  one  or  the  other  lies  buried.  But  the  utter  desolation 
of  both  leaves  no  room  for  any  debate  on  the  question,— »• 
which  of  the  twain  is  bowed  down  and  confounded^  and 
which  of  them  is  broken  in  pieces. 

The  two  palaces  or  castles  of  Babylon  were  strongly 
fortified.  And  the  larger  was  surrounded  by  three  walls 
of  great  extent.*  When  the  city  was  suddenly  taken  by 
Demetrius,  he  seized  on  one  of  the  castles  by  surprise, 
and  displaced  its  garrison  by  seven  thousand  of  his  own 

>  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  p.  29;  Herod,  lib.  i.  cap.  clxxxi. 

27 


314  BABYLON. 

troops,  whom  he  stationed  within  it.*  Of  the  other  he 
could  not  make  himself  master.  Their  extent  and 
strength,  at  a  period  of  three  hundred  years  after  the  de- 
livery of  the  prophecy,  are  thus  sufficiently  demonstrated. 
The  solidity  of  the  structure  of  the  greater,  as  well  as  of 
the  lesser  palace,  might  have  w4UTanted  the  belief  of  its 
unbroken  durability  for  ages.  And  never  was  there  a 
building  whose  splendour  and  ma^ificence  were  in 
greater  contrast  to  its  present  desolation.  The  vestiges 
of  the  walls  which  surrounded  it  are  still  to  be  seen,  and 
serve  with  other  circumstances  to  identify  it  with  the  Mu- 
jelibe,  as  the  name  Merodach  is  identified  with  the 
palace.  //  is  broken  in  pieces,  and  hence  its  name  Mu- 
jelibe,  signifying  overturned,  or  turned  upside  down.  Its 
circumference  is  about  half  a  mile  ;  its  height  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  feet.  But  it  is  "a  mass  of  confusion, 
none  of  its  members  being  distinguishable."^  The  ex- 
istence of  chambers,  passages,  and  cellars,  of  different 
forms  and  sizes,  and  built  of  different  materials,  has  been 
fully  ascertained.^  It  is  the  receptacle  of  wild  beasts, 
and  full  of  doleful  creatures :  wild  beasts  cry  in  the  deso- 
late houses,  and  dragons  in  the  pleasant  palaces;  "veno- 
mous reptiles  being  very  numerous  throughout  the  ruins. "'* 
"  All  the  sides  are  worn  into  furrows  by  the  weather,  and 
in  some  places  where  several  channels  of  rain  have  uni- 
ted together,  these  furrows  are  of  great  depth,  and  pene- 
trate a  considerable  way  into  the  mound. "^  "  The  sides 
of  the  ruin  exhibit  hollows  worn  partly  by  the  weather."^ 
It  is  brought  down  to  the  grave,  to  the  sides  of  the  pit. 

They  tliat  see  thee  shall  narrowly  look  upon  thee,  and 
consider  thee,  saying,  Is  this  the  man  that  made  the  earth 
to  tremble,  that  did  shake  kingdoms  ?  JVarrowly  to  look 
on  and  to  consider  even  the  view  of  the  Mujelibe,  is  to 
see  what  the  palace  of  Babylon,  in  which  kings  proud  as 

»  Plutarch's  Life  of  Demetrius. 

2  Delia  Valle.    See  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  135.    Buckingham's 
Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  273. 

3  Ibid.  p.  274,  4  Mignan's  Travels,  pi  168. 
6  Rich's  Memoir,  p.  29.                   ^  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  167. 


BABYLON.  315 

"  Lucifer,"  boasted  of  exalting  themselves  above  the 
"  stars  of  God,"  has  now  become,  and  how,  cut  down 
to  the  ground,  it  is  broken  in  pieces. 

"  On  pacing  over  the  loose  stones  and  fragments  of 
brick-work  which  lay  scattered  through  the  immense 
fabric,  and  surveying  the  sublimity  of  the  ruins,"  says 
Captain  Mignan,  "  I  naturally  recurred  to  the  time  when 
these  walls  stood  proudly  in  their  original  splendour, — 
when  the  halls  were  the  scenes  of  festive  magnificence,  and 
when  they  resounded  to  the  voices  of  those  whom  death 
has  long  since  swept  from  the  earth.  This  very  pile  was 
once  the  seat  of  luxury  and  vice ;  now  abandoned  to 
decay,  and  exhibiting  a  melancholy  instance  of  the  retri- 
bution of  Heaven.  It  stands  alone  ; — the  solitary  habi- 
tation of  the  goatherd  marks  not  the  forsaken  site."* 
Thy  pomp  is  brought  down  to  the  grave^  and  the  noise  of 
thy  viols ;  the  worms  are  spread  under  thee,  and  the  worms 
cover  thee. 

Thou  art  cast  out  of  thy  grave  like  an  abominable 
branchy  and  as  the  raiment  of  those  that  are  slain,  thrust 
through  with  a  sword  that  go  down  to  the  stones  of  the 
pit;  as  a  carcass  trodden  under  feet.  "  Several  deep  ex- 
cavations have  been  made  in  different  places,  into  the 
sides  of  the  Mujelibe ;  some  probably  by  the  wearing  of 
the  seasons  ;  but  many  others  have  been  dug  by  the  rapa- 
city of  the  Turks,  tearing  up  its  bowels  in  search  of 
hidden  treasure," — as  if  the  palace  of  Babylon  we7^  cast 
out  of  its  grave.  "  Several  penetrate  very  far  into  the 
body  of  the  structure,"  till  it  has  become  as  the  raiment 
of  those  that  are  slain,  thrust  through  with  a  sword. 
"  And  some,  it  is  likely,  have  never  yet  been  explored, 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  literally  keeping  guard  over 
them."=^  "  The  mound  was  full  of  large  holes"^ — thrust 
through. 

Near  to  the  Mujelibe,  on  the  supposed  site  of  the 
hanging  gardens  which  were  situated  within  the  walls 

1  Mignan's  Travels,  pp.  172,  173. 

^  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  342. 

3  Keppel's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  179. 


316  BABYLON. 

of  the  palace,  "  the  ruins  are  so  perforated ,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  digging  for  bricks,  that  the  original  design 
is  entirely  lost.  All  that  could  favour  any  conjecture  of 
gardens  built  on  terraces,  are  two  subterranean  passages. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  both  passages  are  of  vast 
extent ;  they  are  lined  with  britks  laid  in  with  bitumen 
jind  ccwered  over  with  large  masses  of  stone.  This  is 
nearly  the  only  place  where  stone  is  observable."^ 
Arches  built  upon  arches  raised  the  hanging  gardens 
from  terrace  to  terrace,  till  the  highest  was  on  a  level 
with  the  top  of  the  city  walls.  Now  they  are  cast  out 
like  an  abominable  branch — and  subterranean  passages 
are  disclosed, — down  to  the  stones  of  the  pit. 

As  a  carcass  trodden  under  feet.  The  streets  of  Baby- 
lon were  parallel,  crossed  by  others  at  right  angles,  .and 
abounded  with  houses  three  and  four  stories  high  f  and 
none  can  now  traverse  the  site  of  Babylon,  or  find  any 
other  path,  without  treading  them  underfoot.  The  tra- 
veller directs  his  course  to  the  highest  mounds ;  and 
there  are  none,  whether  temples  or  palaces,  that  are  not 
trodden  on.  The  Mujelib6  "  rises  in  a  steep  ascent, 
over  which  the  passengers  can  only  go  up  by  the  wind- 
ing paths  worn  by  frequent  visits  to  the  ruined  edifice."^ 

Her  idols  are  corfounded,  her  images  are  broken  in 
pieces ;  all  the  graven  images  of  her  gods  lie  hath  broken 
unto  the  ground.  "  This  place,"  says  Beauchamp, 
quoted  by  Major  Rennell,  "  and  the  mount  of  Babel,  are 
commonly  called  by  the  Arabs  Makloube,  that  is,  turned 
topsy-turvy.  I  was  informed  by  the  master-mason, 
employed  to  dig  for  bricks,  that  the  places  from  which 
he  procured  them  were  large  thick  walls  and  sometimes 
chambers.  He  has  frequently  found  earthen  vessels, 
engraved  marbles^  and  about  eight  years  ago,  a  statue  as 
large  as  life,  which  he  threw  among  the  i-ubhish.  On 
one  wall  of  the  chamber,  he  found  the  figure  of  a  cow, 
and  of  the  sun  and  moon,  formed  of  varnished  bricks. 
Sometimes  idols  of  clay  are  found,  representing  human 

'  Keppel's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  205.        2  Herod,  lib.  i.  cap.  clxxx, 
3  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  258. 


BABYLON.  31T 

figures.*"  "  Small  figures  of  brass  or  copper  are  found 
at  Babylon."^  "  Bronze  antiquities,  generally  much 
corroded  with  rust,  but  exhibiting  small  figures  of  men 
and  animals  are  often  found  among  the  ruins, "^  or  broken 
unto  the  ground. 

T/ie  broad  walls  of  Babylon  shall  be  utterly  broken. 
They  were  so  broad,  that,  as  ancient  historians  relate, 
six  chariots  could  be  driven  on  them  abreast ;  or  a  cha- 
riot and  four  horses  might  pass  and  turn.  They  existed, 
as  walls,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  after  the  pro- 
phecy was  delivered ;  and  long  after  the  sentence  of 
utter  destruction  had  gone  forth  against  them,  they  were 
numbered  among  "  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world." 
And  what  can  be  more  wonderful  now,  or  what  could 
have  been  more  inconceivable  by  man,  when  Babylon 
was  in  its  strength  and  glory,  than  that  the  broad  walls 
of  Babylon  should  be  so  utterly  broken,  that  it  cannot 
be  determined  with  certainty  that  even  the  slightest  ves- 
tige of  them  exists  ? 

"  All  accounts  agree,"  says  Mr.  Rich,  "  in  the  height 
of  the  walls,  which  was  fifty  cubits,  having  been  reduced 
to  these  dimensions  from  the  prodigious  height  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,"  (formerly  stated,  by  the  lowest 
computation  of  the  length  of  the  cubit,  at  three  hundred 
feet,)  "  by  Darius  Hystaspis,  after  the  rebellion  of  the 
town  in  order  to  render  it  less  defensible.  I  have  not 
been  fortunate  enough  to  discover  the  least  trace  of  them 
in  any  part  of  the  ruins  at  Hillah ;  which  is  rather  an 
unaccountable  circumstance,  considering  that  they  sur- 
vived the  final  ruin  of  the  town,  long  after  which  they 
served  as  an  enclosure  for  a  park ;  in  which  compara- 
tively perfect  state  St.  Jerome  informs  us  they  remained 
in  his  time."" 

In  the  sixteenth  century  they  were  seen  for  the  last 
time  by  any  European  traveller,  (so  far  as  the  author  has 
been  able  to  trace,)  before  they  were  finally  so  utterly 

>  Rennell's  Geography  of  Herodotus,  p.  362. 

2  Rich's  Second  Memoir,  p.  58.        3  Mignan's  Travels,  p  229. 

4  Rich's  Memoir,  pp.  43,  44. 

27* 


318  BABYLON. 

broken  as  totally  to  disappear.  And  it  is  interesting  to 
mark  both  the  time  and  the  manner  in  which  the  walls 
of  Babylon,  like  the  city  of  which  they  were  the  impreg- 
nable yet  unavailing  defence,  were  brought  down  to  the 
grave,  to  be  seen  no  more. 

"The  meanwhile,"  as  Rauwolff  describes  them, 
"  when  we  were  lodged  there,  I  considered  and  viewed 
this  ascent,  and  found  that  there  were  two  behind  one 
another,"  (Herodotus  states  that  there  was  both  an  inner, 
or  interior,  and  outer  wall*)  "  distinguished  by  a  ditch, 
and  extending  themselves  like  unto  two  parallel  walls 
a  great  way  about,  and  that  they  were  open  in  some 
places,  where  one  might  go  through  like  gates ;  where- 
fore I  believe  that  they  were  the  wall  of  the  old  town 
that  went  about  them ;  and  that  the  places  where  they 
were  open  have  been  anciently  the  gates  (whereof  there 
were  one  hundred)  of  that  town.  And  this  the  rather 
because  I  saw  in  some  places  under  the  sand  (where- 
with the  two  ascents  were  almost  covered)  the  old  wall 
plainly  appear."^ 

The  cities  of  Seleucia,  Ctesiphon,  Destagered,  Kufa, 
and  anciently  many  others  in  the  vicinity,  together  with 
the  more  modern  towns  of  Mesched  Ali,  Mesched  Hus- 
sein, and  Hillah,  "with  towns,  villages  and  caravansa- 
ries without  number;"^  have,  in  all  probability,  been 
chiefly  built  out  of  the  walls  of  Babylon.  Like  the  city, 
the  walls  have  been  taken  from  thence^  till  none  of  them 
are  left.  The  rains  of  many  hundred  years,  and  the 
waters  coming  upon  them  annually  by  the  overflowing 
of  the  Euphrates,  have  also,  in  all  likelihood,  washed 
down  the  dust  and  rubbish  from  the  broken  and  dilapi- 
dated walls  into  the  ditch  from  which  they  were  origi- 
nally taken,  till  at  last  the  sand  of  the  parched  desert  has 
smoothed  them  into  a  plain,  and  added  the  place  where 
they  stood  to  the  wilderness,  so  that  the  hroad  walls  of 
Babylon  are  utterly  broken.  And  now%  as  the  subjoined 
evidence  suppletory  of  what  has  already  been  adduced, 

«  Lib.  i.  c.  181.  2  Ray's  Collection  of  Travels,  pp.  177, 17S. 

3  Sir.  R  K.  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  338. 


BABYLON.  319 

fully  proves ;  it  may  verily  be  said  that  the  loftiest  wall 
ever  built  by  man,  as  well  as  the  "  greatest  city  on  which 
the  sun  ever  shone,"  which  these  walls  surrounded,  and 
the  most  fertile  of  countries,  of  which  Babylon  the  great 
was  the  capital  and  the  glory, — have  all  been  swept  by 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  with  the  besom  of  destruction. 

A  chapter  of  sixty  pages  in  length,  of  Mr.  Bucking- 
ham's Travels  in  Mesopotamia,  is  entitled,  "  Search 
after  the  wall  of  Babylon."  After  a  long  and  fruitless 
search,  he  discovered  on  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
ruins,  on  the  summit  of  an  oval  mound  from  seventy  to 
eighty  feet  in  height,  and  from  three  to  four  hundred  feet 
in  circumference,  "  a  mass  of  solid  wall,  about  thirty  feet 
in  length,  by  twelve  or  fifteen  in  thickness,  yet  evidently 
once  of  much  greater  dimensions  each  way,  the  work 
being,  in  its  present  state,  broken  and  incomplete  in  every 
part-y^  and  this  heap  of  ruin  and  fragment  of  wall  he 
conjectured  to  be  a  part — the  only  part,  if  such  it  be, 
that  can  be  discovered — of  the  walls  of  Babylon,  so 
utterly  are  they  broken.  Beyond  this  there  is  not 
even  a  pretension  to  the  discovery  of  any  part  of 
them. 

Captain  Frederick,  of  whose  journey  it  was  the  "  prin- 
cipal object  to  search  for  the  remains  of  the  wall  and 
ditch  that  had  compassed  Babylon,"  states,  that  neither 
of  these  has  been  seen  by  any  modern  traveller.  "  All 
my  inquiries  among  the  Arabs,"  he  adds,  "  on  this  sub- 
ject, completely  failed  in  producing  the  smallest  effect. 
Within  the  space  of  twenty-one  miles  in  length,  along 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  and  twelve  miles  across  it 
in  breadth,  I  was  unable  to  perceive  any  thing  that  could 
admit  of  my  imagining  that  either  a  wall  or  a  ditch  had 
existed  within  this  extensive  area.  If  any  remains  do 
exist  of  the  walls,  they  must  have  been  of  greater  cir- 
cumference than  is  allowed  by  modern  geographers.  I 
may  possibly  have  been  deceived  ;  but  I  spared  no  pains 
to  prevent  it.  I  never  was  employed  in  riding  and 
»  Buckingham's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  306,  307. 


320  BABYLON. 

walking  less  than  eight  hours  for  six  successive  days, 
and  upwards  of  twelve  on  the  seventh."^ 

Major  Keppel  relates,  that  he  and  the  party  who  ac- 
companied him,  "  in  common  with  other  travellers,  had 
totally  failed  in  discovering  any  trace  of  the  city  walls ;" 
and  he  adds,  "  the  divine  predictions  against  Babylon 
have  been  so  literally  fulfilled  in  the  appearance  of  the 
ruins,  that  I  am  disposed  to  give  the  fullest  signification 
to  the  words  of  Jeremiah — the  broad  walls  o/"  Babylon 
shall  be  utterly  broken.^"^'^ 

Babylon  shall  be  an  astonishment — Every  one  that 
goeth  by  Babylon  shall  be  astonished.  It  is  impossible 
to  think  on  what  Babylon  was,  and  to  be  an  eye-witness 
of  what  it  is,  without  astonishment.  On  first  entering  its 
ruins.  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter  thus  expresses  his  feeUngs : 
"  I  could  not  but  feel  an  indescribable  awe  in  thus  pass- 
ing, as  it  were,  into  the  gates  of  fallen  Babylon."^  "  I 
cannot  portray,"  says  Captain  Mignan,  "the  over- 
powering sensation  of  reverential  awe  that  possessed  jny 
mind,  while  contemplating  the  extent  and  magnitude  of 
ruin  and  devastation  on  every  side.""* 

How  is  the  hammer  of  the  whole  earth  cut  asunder ! 
How  is  Babylon  become  a  desolation  among  the  na- 
tions !  The  following  interesting  description  has  lately 
been  given  from  the  spot.  After  speaking  of  the  ruined 
embankment,  divided  and  subdivided  again  and  again, 
like  a  sort  of  tangled  net- work,  over  the  apparently  in- 
terminable ground ;  of  large  and  wide-spreading  mo- 
rasses ;  of  ancient  foundations ;  and  of  chains  of  undu- 
lated heaps  ;  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter  emphatically  adds : 
"  The  whole  view  was  particularly  solemn.  The  majes- 
tic stream  of  the  Euphrates,  wandering  in  solitude,  like 
a  pdgrim  monarch  through  the  silent  ruins  of  his  devas- 
tated kingdom,  still  appeared  a  noble  river  under  all  the 

'  Transactions  of  the  Literary  Society,  Bombay,  vol.  i.  pp.  130, 
131. 

2  Keppel's  Narrative,  vol.  i.  p.  175 ;  Jer.  li.  58. 

3  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  294. 
♦  Mignan's  Travels,  p.  117. 


BABYLON. 


321 


disadvantages  of  its  desert- tracked  course.  Its  banks 
were  hoary  with  reeds ;  and  the  gray  osier  willows  were 
yet  there  on  which  the  captives  of  Israel  hung  up  their 
harps,  and,  while  Jerusalem  was  not,  refused  to  be  com- 
forted. But  how  has  the  rest  of  the  scene  changed  since 
then !  At  that  time  those  broken  hills  were  palaces ; 
those  long,  undulating  mounds,  streets ;  this  vast  soli- 
tude filled  with  the  busy  subjects  of  the  proud  daughter 
of  the  East.  Now  wasted  with  misery,  her  habitations 
are  not  to  he  founds  and  for  herself,  the  worm  is  spread 
over  her.'^^^ 

From  palaces  converted  into  broken  hills ;  from  streets 
to  long  lines  of  heaps ;  from  the  throne  of  the  world  to 
sitting  in  the  dust ;  from  the  hum  of  mighty  Babylon  to 
the  death-like  silence  that  rests  upon  the  grave  to  which 
it  is  brought  down ;  from  the  great  storehouse  of  the 
world,  where  treasures  were  gathered  from  every  quar- 
ter ;  and  the  prison-house  of  the  captive  Jews,  where, 
not  loosed  to  return  homewards,  they  served  in  a  hard 
bondage,  to  Babylon  the  spoil  of  many  nations,  itself 
taken  from  thence,  and  nothing  left ;  from  a  vast  metro- 
polis, the  place  of  palaces,  and  the  glory  of  kingdoms, 
whither  multitudes  ever  flowed,  to  a  dreaded  and 
shunned  wspot,  not  inhabited  nor  dwelt  in  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  where  even  the  Arabian,  though  the 
son  of  the  desert,  pitches  not  his  tent,  and  where  the 
shepherds  make  not  their  folds ;  from  the  treasures  of 
darkness,  and  hidden  riches  of  secret  places,  to  the 
taking  away  of  bricks,  and  to  an  uncovered  nakedness ; 
from  making  the  earth  to  tremble,  and  shaking  king- 
doms, to  being  cast  out  of  the  grave  hke  an  abominable 
branch  ;  from  the  many  nations  and  great  kings  from  the 
coasts  of  the  earth,  that  have  so  often  come  up  against 
Babylon,  to  the  workmen  that  still  cast  her  up  as  heaps, 
and  add  to  the  number  of  pools  in  her  ruins ;  from  the 
immense  artificial  lake,  many  miles  in  circumference,  by 
means  of  which  the  annual  rising  of  the  Euphrates  was 
regulated  and  restrained,  to  these  pools  of  water,  a  few 
'  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  307. 


322  BABYLON. 

yards  round,  dug  by  the  workmen,  and  filled  by  the 
river ;  from  tlie  first  and  greatest  of  temples,  to  a  burnt 
mountain  desolate  for  ever  ;  from  the  golden  image,  forty 
feet  in  height,  which  stood  on  the  top  of  the  temple  of 
Belus,  to  all  the  graven  images  of  her  gods,  that  are 
broken  unto  the  ground  and  ^mingled  with  the  dust ; 
from  the  splendid  and  luxuriant  festivals  of  Babylonian 
monarchs,  the  noise  of  the  viols,  the  pomp  of  Belshaz- 
zar's  feast,  and  the  godless  revelry  of  a  thousand  lords 
drinking  out  of  the  golden  vessels  that  had  been  taken 
from  Zion,  to  the  cry  of  wild  beasts,  the  creeping  of 
doleful  creatures,  of  which  their  desolate  houses  and 
pleasant  palaces  are  full,  the  nestling  of  owls  in  cavities, 
the  dancing  of  wild  goats  on  the  ruinous  mound  as  on  a 
rock,  and  the  dwelling-place  of  dragons  and  venomous 
reptiles ;  from  arch  upon  arch,  and  terrace  upon  terrace, 
till  the  hanging  gardens  of  Babylon  rose  like  a  mountain, 
down  to  the  stones  of  the  pit,  now  disclosed  to  view ; 
from  the  palaces  of  princes  who  sat  on  the  mount  of  the 
congregation,  and  thought  in  the  pride  of  their  heart  to 
exalt  themselves  above  the  stars  of  God,  to  heaps  cut 
down  to  the  ground,  perforated  as  the  raiment  of  those 
that  are  slain,  and  as  a  carcass  trodden  under  feet ;  from 
the  broad  walls  of  Babylon,  in  all  their  height,  as  Cyrus 
camped  against  them  round  about,  seeking  in  vain  a 
single  point  where  congregated  nations  could  scale  the 
walls  or  force  an  opening,  to  the  untraceable  spot  on 
which  they  stood,  where  there  is  nothing  left  to  turn 
aside,  or  impede  in  their  course,  the  worms  that  cover 
it ;  and  finally,  from  Babylon  the  great,  the  wonder  of 
the  world,  to  fallen  Babylon,  the  astonishment  of  all  who 
go  by  it ;  in  extremes  like  these,  whatever  changes  they 
involve,  and  by  whatever  instrumentality  they  may  have 
been  wrought  out,  there  is  not  to  this  hour,  in  this  most 
marvellous  history  of  Babylon,  a  single  fact  that  may  not 
most  appropriately  be  ranked  under  a  prediction,  and 
that  does  not  tally  entirely  with  its  express  and  precise 
fulfilment,  while  at  the  same  time  they  all  united  show,  as 
may  now  be  seen — reading  the  judgments  to  the  very  letter, 


BABYLON.  323 

and  looking  to  the  facts  as  they  are — the  destruction 
which  has  come  from  the  Ahnighty  upon  Babylon. 

Has  not  every  purpose  of  the  Lord  been  performed 
against  Babylon  ?  And  having  so  clear  illustrations  of 
the  facts  before  us,  what  mortal  shall  give  a  negative 
answer  to  the  question,  subjoined  by  their  omniscient 
Author  to  these  very  prophecies  ? — "  Who  hath  declared 
this  from  ancient  time  ?  Who  hath  told  it  from  that 
time  ?  Have  not  I  the  Lord  ?  and  there  is  no  God 
beside  me  ; — declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and 
from  ancient  times  the  things  that  are  not  yet  done,  say- 
ing. My  counsel  shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  plea- 
sure." Is  it  possible  that  there  can  be  any  attestation 
of  the  truth  of  prophecy,  if  it  be  not  witnessed  here  ? 
Is  there  any  spot  on  earth  which  has  undergone  a  more 
complete  transformation  ?  "  The  records  of  the  human 
race,"  it  has  been  said  with  truth,  "  do  not  present  a 
contrast  more  striking  than  that  between  the  primeval 
magnificence  of  Babylon,  and  its  long  desolation."'  Its 
ruins  have  of  late  been  carefully  and  scrupulously  ex- 
amined by  different  natives  of  Britain,  of  unimpeached 
veracity,  and  the  result  of  every  research  is  a  more  strik- 
ing demonstration  of  the  literal  accompHshment  of  every 
prediction.  How  few  spots  are  there  on  earth  of  which 
we  have  so  clear  and  faithful  a  picture,  as  prophecy  gave 
of  fallen  Babylon  at  a  time  when  no  spot  on  earth  re- 
sembled it  less  than  its  present  desolate  solitary  site! 
Or  could  any  prophecies  respecting  any  single  place  have 
been  more  precise  or  wonderful,  or  numerous,  or  true ; 
or  more  gradually  accomplished  throughout  many  gene- 
rations? And  when  they  look  at  what  Babylon  was, 
and  what  it  is,  and  perceive  the  minute  realization  of 
them  all,  may  not  nations  learn  wisdom,  may  not  tyrants 
tremble,  and  may  not  skeptics  think  ? 

1  Edinburgh  Review,  Num.  1.  p.  439 


324  TYRE. 


TYRE. 


Tyre  was  the  most  celebrat;gd  city  of  Phoenicia,  and 
the  ancient  emporium  of  the  world.  Its  colonies  were 
numerous  and  extensive.  "  It  was  the  theatre  of  an 
immense  commerce  and  navigation,  the  nursery  of  arts 
and  science,  and  the  city  of  perhaps  the  most  industrious 
and  active  people  ever  known."*  In  the  period  of 
their  greatest  splendour  and  perfect  independence,  Tyre 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  Phoenician  cities.'-^  The  king- 
dom of  Carthage,  the  rival  of  Rome,  was  one  of  the 
colonies  of  Tyre.  While  this  mart  of  nations  was  in 
the  height  of  its  opulence  and  power,  and  at  least  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  years  before  the  destruction  of 
old  Tyre,  Isaiah  pronounced  its  irrevocable  fall.  Tyre 
on  the  island  succeeded  to  the  more  ancient  city  on  the 
continent:  and — being  inhabited  by  the  same  people, 
retaining  the  same  name,  being  removed  but  a  little 
space,  and  occupying  in  part  the  same  ground  ;  the  fate 
of  both  is  included  in  the  prophecy.  The  pride  and 
wickedness  of  the  Tyrians,  their  exultation  over  the 
calamities  of  the  Israelites,  and  their  cruelty  in  selling 
them  to  slavery,  are  assigned  as  the  reasons  of  the  judg- 
ments that  were  to  overtake  them,  or  as  the  causes  of 
the  revelation  of  the  destiny  of  their  city.  And  the 
whole  fate  of  Tyre  was  foretold. 

Ezekiel's  description  of  the  commerce,  riches,  and 
pride  of  Tyre,  the  ancient  Queen  of  the  Ocean,  is 
designated  by  Volney,  a  valuable  historical  fragment : 
and  he  cites  the  words,  as  he  terms  it,  "  in  all  their  pro- 
phetic enthusiasm."  But  the  prophet  denounced  its 
doom  before  he  described  its  splendour  and  power ;  and 
he  traced  its  future  history,  with  all  the  precision  of 

»  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  210;   Steph.  Die.  p.  2039  ;    Mar- 
shami  Can.  Chron.  p.  304,  &c. ;    Strabo,  Bochart,  &c. 
2  Heeren's  Researches,  vol.  ii.  jj.  17. 


TYRE. 

truth,  till  the  city  that  was  perfect  in  beauty  became  a 
place  whereon  fishers  spread  their  nets,  till  the  stones 
and  timber  of  its  superb  dwellings  were  cast  into  the 
midst  of  the  waters,  and  the  very  dust  was  scraped  from 
off  the  place  where  the  princely  merchants  gloried  in 
their  pride,  and  heaped  up  their  silver  and  their  gold. 
The  marvellous  facts  which  Ezekiel  and  other  prophets 
foretold,  give  to  unobservant  minds,  the  semblance  of 
enthusiasm  to  their  unerring  words.  And  confessedly 
faithful  to  the  facts,  as  was  '  the  historical  fragment,'  so 
also  is  the  prophecy  which  contrasts  with  it,  as  exhi- 
biting the  entire  reversal  of  Tyrian  magnificence :  and 
the  prophetic  history  of  the  downfall  and  ruin  of  Tyre 
may  be  read  more  fully  and  clearly  in  the  w^ords  of 
Ezekiel,  than  its  history,  prior  to  its  celebrated  siege 
by  Alexander  the  Great,  has  been  recorded  in  the  ex- 
tant works  of  profane  writers. 

EzekiePs  'historical  fragment'  begins  by  declaring, 
"  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  we,  sayings  Smi  of 
man,  because  that  Tyrus  hath  said  against  Jerusalem, 
Ma,  she  is  broken  that  was  the  gates  of  the  people  ;  she 
is  turned  unto  me  ;  I  shall  be  replenished,  now  she  is  laid 
waste.  Therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold  I  am 
against  thee,  0  Tyrus,  and  will  cause  many  nations  to 
come  up  against  thee,  as  the  sea  causeth  his  waves  to  come 
up.  And  they  shall  destroy  the  walls  of  Tyrus,  and  break 
down  her  towers :  I  will  also  scrape  her  dust  from  her, 
and  make  her  like  the  top  of  a  rock.  It  shall  be  a  place 
for  the  spreading  of  n£ts  in  the  midst  of  the  sea :  for  1 
have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  and  it  shall  become 
a  spoil  to  the  nations,  &c.     Ezek.  xxvi.  1 — 5. 

The  first  of  the  many  nations  that  came  up  against 
Tyre  was  the  Chaldeans  or  Babylonians,  under  Nebu- 
chadnezzar. History,  without  explicitly  recording  the 
facts  or  the  result  of  the  siege,  relates  little  else  than  its 
duration  for  thirteen  years  ;  a  defect  which  the  possible 
(and  lately  reported)  discovery  of  the  lost  works  of  San- 
choniathon,  would  in  all  likelihood  supply.  The  length 
alone  of  the  siege  accords  with  the  historical  narration 
28 


326  TYRE. 

given  by  Ezekiel  at  a  subsequent  period,  that  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, king  of  Babylon,  caused  his  army  to  serve 
a  great  service  against  Tyrus,  till  every  head  was  bald 
and  every  shoulder  was  peeled ;  yet  had  he  no  wages 
nor  his  army  for  Tyrus,  for  the  service  that  he  had  served 
against  it. 

The  vision  of  the  prophet  *  tarried,'  but  did  not  fail. 
It  reached,  with  equal  clearness,  throughout  all  future  ages. 
And  the  time  is  not  yet  come  respecting  which  Tyre  is 
finally  spoken  of  in  the  word  of  the  Lord.  But  from  the 
height  of  its  dignity,  to  the  depth  of  its  debasement,  a 
'  fragment'  of  the  book  of  the  prophetic  scriptures  marked 
out  its  fate.  The  confederate  Greeks,  under  their  '  great 
king,'  came  up  against  Tyrus,  at  an  interval  of  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  years,  after  its  siege  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. And  restricting  the  illustration  of  the  prophecies 
to  recorded  and  indisputable  facts,  which  are  notorious 
in  history,  the  most  unexceptionable  testimony  is  sup- 
plied by  Arrian  and  Quintus  Curtius,  whose  names  are 
associated  with  the  history  of  Alexander  and  the  siege 
of  Tyre,*  as  those  of  Herodotus  and  Xenophon  with  that 
of  Cyrus  and  the  capture  of  Babylon. 

One  of  the  most  singular  events  in  history  was  the 
manner  in  which  the  siege  of  Tyre  was  conducted  by 
Alexander  the  Great.  Irritated  that  a  single  city  should 
alone  oppose  his  victorious  march,  enraged  at  the  mur- 
der of  some  of  his  soldiers,  and  fearful  for  his  fame — 
even  his  army's  despairing  of  success  could  not  deter 
him  from  the  siege.  And  Tyre  was  taken  in  a  manner, 
the  success  of  which  was  more  wonderful  than  the  de- 
sign was  daring :  for  it  was  surrounded  by  a  wall  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height,  and  situated  on  an 
island  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  shore.  A  mound 
was  formed  from  the  continent  to  the  island ;  and  the 
ruins  of  old  Tyre,''  afforded  ready  materials  for  the  pur- 

1  See  Prideaux,  Rollin,  Bishop  Newton,  &c.,  on  the  fulfilment 
of  the  prophecies  concerning  Tyre. 

2  "  Magna  vis  saxorum  ad  manum  erat,  Tyro  vetere  prae- 
bente."  (Quintus  Curtius,  lib.  iv.  cap.  ix.) — See  Prideaux,  Rol- 
lin, Bishop  Newton,  &c. 


TYRE. 


327 


pose.  Such  was  the  work,  that  the  attempt  at  first 
defeated  the  power  of  an  Alexander.  The  enemy  con- 
sumed and  the  storm  destroyed  it.  But  its  remains, 
buried  beneath  the  water,  formed  a  barrier  which  ren- 
dered successful  his  renewed  efforts.  A  vast  mass  of 
additional  matter  was  requisite.  The  soil  and  the  very 
rubbish  were  gathered  and  heaped.  And  the  mighty- 
conqueror,  who  afterwards  failed  in  raising  again  any 
of  the  ruins  of  Babylon,  cast  those  of  Tyre  into  the  sea, 
and  took  her  very  dust^  from  oif  her.  He  left  not  the 
remnant  of  a  ruin ;  and  the  site  of  ancient  Tyre  is  now 
unknown. 2  Who  then  taught  the  prophets  to  say  of 
Tyrt- — "  They  shall  lay  thy  stones  and  thy  timber^  and 
thy  dust,  in  the  midst  of  the  water.  I  will  also  scrape 
HER  TtvsTjrom  her.  I  will  make  thee  a  terror,  and  thou 
shall  be  no  more.  Thou  shall  be  sought  for,  yet  thou 
shall  never  be  found  again.'^^^ 

After  the  capture  of  Tyre,  the  conqueror  ordered  it  to 
be  set  on  fire.  Fifteen  thousand  of  the  Tyrians  escaped 
in  ships.  And  exclusive  of  multitudes  that  were  cruelly 
slain,  thirty  thousand  were  sold  into  slavery."*  Each  of 
these  facts  had  been  announced  for  centuries : — "  Behold 
the  Lord  will  cast  her  out ;  he  will  smite  her  power  in  the 
sea,  and  she  shall  be  devoured  with  fire. — /  will  bring 
forth  a  fire  from  the  midst  of  thee  ;  I  will  bring  thee  to 
ashes  upon  the  earth.  Pass  ye  over  to  Tarshish ;  pass 
over  to  Chittim.  The  isles  that  are  in  the  sea  shall  be 
troubled  at  thy  departure. —  Thou  shall  die  the  death  of 
them  that  are  slain  in  the  midst  of  the  sea.  The  children 
of  Israel  also,  and  the  children  of  Judah  have  ye  sold. 
I  will  return  the  recompense  upon  your  own  head.''^ 

But  it  was  also  prophesied  of  the  greatest  com- 
mercial city  of  the  world,  whose  merchants  were  princes ; 

>  "  HuMDs  aggerabatur."  (Ibid.  cap.  xi.)  The  soil  was  heaped 
ip. 

2  Pococke'iS  Description  of  the  East,  b.  i.  ch.  xx.  Bishop  New- 
ton ;  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii. ;  Buckingham's  Travels,  p.  46. 

3  Ezek.  xxiv.  4,  12,  21. 

*  Rollin,  Bishop  Newton,  &c. 


mrvT 


328  TYRE. 

whose  traffickers  were  the  honourable  of  the  earth :  "  / 
will  make  thee  like  the  top  of  a  rock.  Thou  shall  he 
a  place  to  spread  nets  upon.^^*^  The  same  prediction 
is  repeated  with  an  assurance  of  its  truth — "  /  will  make 
her  like  the  top  of  a  rock ;  it  shall  be  a  place  for  the 
spreading  of  nets  in  the  midSt  of  tJie  sea,  for  I  have 
spoken  U^'^ 

Tyre,  though  deprived  of  its  former  inhabitants,  soon 
revived  as  a  city,  and  greatly  regained  its  commerce.  It 
was  populous  and  flourishing  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era.  It  contained  many  disciples  of  Jesus,  in 
the  days  of  the  apostles.  An  elegant  temple  and  many 
churches  were  afterwards  built  there.  It  was  the  see  of 
the  first  archbishop  under  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem. 
Her  merchandise  and  her  hire,  according  to  the  prophecy, 
were  holiness  to  the  Lord.  In  the  seventh  century 
Tyre  was  taken  by  the  Saracens ;  in  the  twelfth  by  the 
Crusaders,  at  which  period  it  was  a  great  commercial 
city.  The  Mamelukes  succeeded  as  its  masters  ;  and  it 
remained  for  three  hundred  years  in  the  possession  of  the 
Turks.  But  it  was  not  excluded  from  among  the  mul- 
titude of  cities  and  of  countries  whose  ruin  and  devasta- 
tion, as  accomplished  by  the  cruelties  and  ravages  of 
Turkish  barbarity  and  despotism,  were  foretold  nearly 
two  thousand  years  before  the  existence  of  that  nation 
of  plunderers.  And  although  it  has  more  lately  by  a 
brief  respite  from  the  greatest  oppression,  risen  some- 
what from  its  ruins,  the  last  of  the  predictions  respecting 
it  has  been  literally  fulfilled,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  many  witnesses.  But  that  of  Maundrell,  Shaw,  Vol- 
ney,  and  Bruce,  may  suffice. 

"  You  find  here  no  similitude  of  that  glory  for  which 
it  was  so  renowned  in  ancient  times.  You  see  nothing 
here  but  a  mere  Babel  of  broken  walls,  pillars,  vaults, 
&c.  Its  present  inhabitants  are  only  a  few  poor  wretches, 
harbouring  themselves  in  the  vaults,  and  subsisting 
chiefly  upon  fishing,  who  seem  to  be  preserved  in  this 
place  by  divine  providence,  as  a  visible  argument  how 
»  Ezek.  xxiv.  14.  2  Ezek.  xxiv.  4,  5. 


TYRE.  329 

God  hath  fulfilled  his  word  concerning  Tyre."^  "  The 
port  of  Tyre,  small  as  it  is  at  present,  is  choked  up  to 
that  degree  with  sand  and  rubbish,  that  the  boats  of 
those  fishermen  who  now  and  then  visit  this  once  re- 
nowned emporium,  and  dry  their  nets  upon  its  rocks  and 
ruins,  can  with  great  difficulty  only  be  admitted."^  And 
even  Volney,  after  quoting  the  description  of  the  great- 
ness of  Tyre,  and  the  general  description  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  city,  and  the  annihilation  of  its  commerce, 
acknowledges  that  "  the  vicissitudes  of  time,  or  rather 
the  barbarism  of  the  Greeks  of  the  Lower  Empire  and 
the  Mahometans,  have  accomplished  this  prediction. 
Instead  of  that  ancient  commerce,  so  active  and  so  ex- 
tensive, Sour,  (Tyre,)  reduced  to  a  miserable  village, 
has  no  other  trade  than  the  exportation  of  a  few  sacks  of 
corn  and  raw  cotton :  nor  any  merchant  but  a  single 
Greek  factor,  in  the  service  of  the  French  of  Saide,  who 
scarcely  makes  sufficient  profit  to  maintain  his  family." 
But  though  he  overlooks  the  fulfilment  of  minuter  pro- 
phecies, he  relates  facts  more  valuable  than  any  opinion, 
and  more  corroborative  of  their  truth : — ''  The  whole 
village  of  Tyre  contains  only  fifty  or  sixty  poor  families, 
who  live  obscurely  on  the  produce  of  their  little  ground 
and  a  trifling  fishery.  The  houses  they  occupy  are  no 
longer,  as  in  the  time  of  Strabo,  edifices  of  three  or  four 
stories  high ;  but  wretched  huts,  ready  to  crumble  into 
ruins. "^  Bruce  describes  Tyre  as  "  a  rock  whereon 
fishers  dry  their  nets." 

It  matters  not  by  what  means  these  prophecies  have 
been  verified  ;  for  the  means  were  as  inscrutable,  and  as 
impossible  to  have  been  foreseen  by  man,  as  the  event. 
The  fact  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  they  have  been  literally 
fulfilled,  and  therefore  the  prophecies  are  true.  They 
may  be  overlooked,  but  no  ingenuity  can  pervert  them. 

1  Maundrell's  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem,  p.  88 ;  Pri- 
deaux,  Lowth,  Univ.  Hist.,  Bp.  Newton. 

2  Shaw's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  31 ;  Bp.  Newton,  «fec. 

3  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  212. 

28* 


330  EGYPT. 

No  facts  could  have  been  more  unlikely  or  striking,  and 
no  predictions  respecting  them  could  have  been  more 
clear. 


EGYPT. 

Egypt  was  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  one  of  the 
mightiest  of  kingdoms,  and  the  researches  of  the  travel- 
ler are  still  directed  to  explore  the  unparalleled  memo- 
rials of  its  power.  No  nation,  whether  of  ancient  or  of 
modem  times,  has  ever  erected  such  great  and  durable 
monuments.  While  the  vestiges  of  other  ancient  mo- 
narchies can  hardly  be  found  amidst  the  mouldered  ruins 
of  their  cities,  those  artificial  mountains,  visible  at  the 
distance  of  thirty  miles,  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  without 
a  record  of  their  date,  have  withstood,  unimpaired,  all 
the  ravages  of  time.  The  dynasty  of  Egypt  takes  pre- 
cedence, in  antiquity,  of  every  other.  No  country  ever 
produced  so  long  a  catalogue  of  kings.  The  learning 
of  the  Egyptians  was  proverbial.  The  number  of  their 
cities,*  and  the  population  of  their  country,  as  recorded 
by  ancient  historians,  almost  surpass  credibility.  Nature 
and  art  united  in  rendering  it  a  most  fertile  region.  It 
was  called  the  granary  of  the  world.  It  was  divided 
into  several  kingdoms,  and  their  power  often  extended 
over  many  of  the  surrounding  countries.^  Yet  the  know- 
ledge of  all  its  greatness  and  glory  deterred  not  the  Jew- 
ish prophets  from  declaring  that  Egypt  shall  become  a 
base  kingdoTTi,  and  never  exalt  itself  any  more  above  the 
nations.  And  the  literal  fulfilment  of  every  prophecy 
affords  as  clear  a  demonstration  as  can  possibly  be  given, 
that  each  and  all  of  them  are  the  dictates  of  inspiration. 

Egypt  was  the  theme  of  many  prophecies,  which  were 
fulfilled  in  ancient  times ;  and  it  bears  to  the  present 

1  Twenty  thousand.     (Herod,  lib.  ii.  cap.  clxxvii.) 

2  Marshami  Can.  Chron.  pp.  339,  242. 


EGYPT.  331 

day,  as  it  has  borne  throughout  many  ages,  every  mark 
with  which  prophecy  had  stamped  its  destiny : — 

"  They  shall  be  a  base  kingdom.  It  shall  be  the 
basest  of  kingdoms.  Neither  shall  it  exalt  itself  any 
more  above  the  nations :  for  I  will  diminish  them,  that 
they  shall  no  more  rule  over  the  nations.*  The  pride 
of  her  power  shall  come  down.  And  they  shall  be  deso- 
late in  the  midst  of  the  countries  that  are  desolate,  and 
her  cities  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  the  cities  that  are 
wasted.  I  will  make  the  land  of  Egypt  desolate,  and 
the  country  shall  be  destitute  of  that  whereof  it  was 
full.  I  will  sell  the  land  into  the  hand  of  the  wicked. 
I  will  make  the  land  waste,  and  all  that  is  therein,  by 
the  hand  of  strangers.  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it.  And 
there  shall  be  no  more  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt."^ 

Egypt  became  entirely  subject  to  the  Persians  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  previous  to  the  Christian 
era.  It  was  afterwards  subdued  by  the  Macedonians, 
and  was  governed  by  the  Ptolemies  for  the  space  of  two 
hundred  and  ninety-four  years,  until,  about  thirty  years 
before  Christ,  it  became  a  province  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire. It  continued  long  in  subjection  to  the  Romans, 
tributary  first  to  Rome,  and  afterwards  to  Constantinople. 
It  was  transferred,  a.  d.  641,  to  the  dominion  of  the 
Saracens.  In  1250  the  Mamelukes  deposed  their  rulers, 
and  usurped  the  command  of  Eg}^'pt.  A  mode  of  govern- 
ment the  most  singular  and  surprising  that  ever  existed 
on  earth,  was  established  and  maintained.  Each  suc- 
cessive ruler  was  raised  to  supreme  authority  from  being 
a  stranger  and  a  slave :  no  son  of  the  former  ruler,  no 
native  of  Egypt  succeeding  to  the  sovereignty ;  but  a 
chief  was  chosen  from  among  a  new  race  of  imported 
slaves.  When  Egypt  became  tributary  to  the  Turks  in 
1517,  the  Mamelukes  retained  much  of  their  power,  and 
every  pasha  was  an  oppressor  and  a  stranger.  During 
all  these  ages,  every  attempt  to  emancipate  \\)v  country, 
or  to  create  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  has  proved 

1  Ezek.  xxix.  14,  15. 

2  Ezek.  XXX.  6,  7,  12, 13,  xxxii.  15. 


332  EGYPT. 

abortive,  and  has  often  been  fatal  to  the  aspirant 
Though  the  facts  relative  to  Egypt  form  too  prominent 
a  feature  in  the  history  of  the  world  to  admit  of  contra- 
diction or  doubt,  yet  the  description  of  the  fate  of  that 
country,  and  of  the  form  of  its  government,  shall  be  left 
to  the  testimony  of  those  whose-  authority  no  infidel  will 
question,  and  whom  no  man  can  accuse  of  adapting  their 
descriptions  to  the  predictions  of  the  event.  Gibbon  and 
Volney  are  again  our  witnesses  of  the  facts. 

"  Such  is  the  state  of  Egypt.  Deprived  twenty-three 
centuries  ago  of  her  natural  proprietors,  she  has  seen 
her  fertile  fields  successively  a  prey  to  the  Persians,  the 
Macedonians,  the  Romans,  the  Greeks,  the  Arabs,  the 
Georgians,  and,  at  length,  the  race  of  Tartars  distin- 
guished by  the  name  of  Ottoman  Turks.  The  Mame- 
lukes, purchased  as  slaves  and  introduced  as  soldiers, 
soon  usurped  the  power,  and  elected  a  leader.  If  their 
first  establishment  was  a  singular  event,  their  continu- 
ance is  not  less  extraordinary.  They  are  replaced  by 
slaves  brought  from  their  original  country.  The  system 
of  oppression  is  methodical.  Every  thing  the  traveller 
sees  or  hears  reminds  him  he  is  in  the  country  of  slavery 
and  tyranny."*  "  A  more  unjust  and  absurd  constitu- 
tion cannot  be  devised  than  that  which  condemns  the 
natives  of  a  country  to  perpetual  servitude,  under  the 
arbitrary  dominion  of  strangers  and  slaves.  Yet  such 
has  been  the  state  of  Egypt  above  five  hundred  years. 
The  most  illustrious  sultans  of  the  Baharite  and  Borgite 
dynasties  were  themselves  promoted  from  the  Tartar  and 
Circassian  bands ;  and  the  four-and-twenty  beys,  or  mili- 
tary chiefs,  have  ever  been  succeeded,  not  by  their  sons, 
but  by  their  servants."^  These  are  the  words  of  Volney 
and  of  Gibbon ;  and  what  did  the  ancient  prophets  fore- 
tel  ?  ^^  I  will  lay  the  land  waste ^  and  all  that  is  therein^ 
by  tlw  hands  of  strangers.  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it. 
And  tliere  shall  be  no  more  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 
The  sceptre  of  Egypt  shall  depart  away.^^   The  prophecy 

>  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  i.  pp.  74,  103,  110,  198. 
'  Gibbon's  History,  vol.  xi.  c.  lix.  p.  164. 


EGYPT.  333 

adds :  "  They  shall  he  a  base  kingdom ;  it  shall  he  the 
basest  of  kingdo7ns.^^  After  the  lapse  of  two  thousand 
and  four  hundred  years  from  the  date  of  this  prophecy, 
a  scoffer  at  rehgion,  but  an  eye-witness  of  the  facts,  thus 
describes  the  self-same  spot : — "  In  Egypt  there  is  no 
middle  class,  neither  nobility,  clergy,  merchants,  land- 
holders. A  universal  air  of  misery,  manifest  in  all  the 
traveller  meets,  points  out  to  him  the  rapacity  of  oppres- 
sion and  the  distrust  attendant  upon  slavery.  The  pro- 
found ignorance  of  the  inhabitants  equally  prevents  them 
from  perceiving  the  causes  of  their  evils,  or  applying  the 
necessary  remedies.  Ignorance,  diffused  through  every 
class,  extends  its  effects  to  every  species  of  moral  and 
physical  knowledge.  Nothing  is  talked  of  but  intestine 
troubles,  the  public  misery,  pecuniary  extortions,  basti- 
nadoes, and  murders.  Justice  herself  puts  to  death  with- 
out formality."^  Other  travellers  describe  the  most  exe- 
crable vices  as  common,  and  represent  the  moral  cha- 
racter of  the  people  as  corrupted  to  the  core.  As  a 
token  of  the  desolation  of  the  country,  mud-walled  cot- 
tages are  now  the  only  habitations  where  the  ruins  of 
temples  and  palaces  abound.  Egypt  is  surrounded  by 
the  dominions  of  the  Turks  and  of  the  Arabs ;  and  the 
prophecy  is  literally  true  which  marked  it  in  the  midst 
of  desolation : — "  They  shall  be  desolate  in  the  midst  of 
the  countries  that  are  desolate^  and  her  cities  shall  be  in 
the  midst  of  the  cities  that  are  wasted.'^''  The  systematic 
oppression,  extortion,  and  plunder,  which  have  so  long 
prevailed,  and  the  price  paid  for  his  authority  and  power 
by  every  Turkish  pasha,  have  rendered  the  country  desti- 
tute of  that  whereof  it  was  full^  and  still  show  both  how 
it  has  been  wasted  by  the  hands  of  strangers^  and  how  it 
has  been  sold  into  the  hand  of  the  wicked. 

The  waters  shall  fail  from  the  sea,  and  the  rivers  shall 
be  wasted  and  dried  up.  And  they  shall  turn  the  rivers 
far  away,  and  the  brooks  of  defence  shall  be  emptied  and 
dried  up :  the  reeds  and  flags  shall  wither.  The  papet 
reeds  by  the  brooks,  by  the  mouth  of  the  brooks,  and  every 
1  Volney's  Travels,  vol.  i.  pp.  190,  198. 


334  EGYPT. 

thing  sovm  by  the  hrooJcs  shall  vntfier,  and  be  driven  away, 
and  shall  not  be,^  &c.  /  vrill  make  the  rivers  dry, — and 
I  will  make  the  land  waste,^  &c.  Son  of  man,  speak 
unto  Pharaoh  king  of  Eg)'pt,  and  to  his  multitudes: 
"Whom  art  thou  like  in  th^  greatness  ?  The  waters  made 
him  great,  the  deep  set  him  up  on  high,  with  her  rivers 
running  about  his  plants,  and  sent  out  her  little  rivers 
unto  all  the  trees  of  the  field.  Therefore  his  height  was 
exalted  above  all  the  trees  of  the  field,  and  his  boughs 
were  multiplied,  and  his  branches  became  long,  because 
of  the  multitude  of  waters,  when  he  shot  forth.  Thus 
was  he  fair  in  his  greatness,  in  the  length  of  his  branches ; 
for  his  root  was  by  the  great  waters,  &c.  I  have  driven 
him  out  for  his  wickedness.  Thou  shalt  lie  in  the  midst 
of  the  uncircumcised,  with  them  that  be  slain  by  the 
sword.  This  is  Pharaoh,  and  all  his  multitudes,  saith 
the  Lord  God.» 

The  turning  far  away  of  the  rivers,  or  of  the  ancient 
branches  of  the  Nile  from  their  course,  and  the  drying 
up  of  the  canals,  and  consequent  emptying  of  the  brooks, 
which  spread  fecundity  over  Egypt,  may  be  ranked  among 
the  immediate  and  most  influential  causes  of  the  deso- 
lation which  has  spread  over  the  far  greater  part  of  Egypt. 
Wherever,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  irrigation  is  prac- 
tised, and  the  little  rivers  run  about  the  plants,  and  are 
sent  out  unto  all  the  trees  of  the  field,  the  wonderful 
luxuriance  of  the  irrigation  may  well  astonish  a  European ; 
and  the  sickly  green-house  plants  of  our  cold  and  com- 
paratively sunless  clime,  assume  a  gigantic  form.  And 
partial  and  narrow  as  these  rich  fringes  now  are,  advanc- 
ing hills  of  sand  (through  the  sloping  sides  of  which  the 
stems,  and  upper  branches,  and  topmost  twigs  of  trees 
buried,  or  being  buried,  may  be  seen  as  marking  the  pro- 
gress of  yet  unstayed  desolation)  in  some  places,  as  at 
Rosetta,  threaten  destruction,  like  that  of  the  felon  con- 
demned to  stand  on  the  brink  of  the  rising  tide.  But 
over  great  part  of  Egypt  desolation  has  done  its  perfect 
work.     The  streams  of  the  Nile  are  now  circumscribed 

» Isa.  xix.  5—7  «  Ezek.  xxx.  12.  »  Ezek.  xxx. 


EGYPT.  335 

within  narrow  limits  to  what  formerly  they  were.  On 
the  western  side  of  Egypt,  as  seen  in  Heath's  plan  of 
Egypt,  an  "  ancient  bed  of  the  river  Nile,  now  dry,  and 
called  by  the  natives  Bellomah,"  is  distant  eighty  miles 
from  the  nearest  branch  of  that  river.  The  intermediate 
space,  of  greater  length  than  breadth,  is  marked  as 
"immense  sandy  plains;"  and  a  long  canal  which 
partly  intersected  it,  is  now  "  dry,  except  at  the  time  of 
the  inundation."  Along  the  sea-coast  the  land  is  level 
and  destitute  of  trees.  And  on  the  eastern  side  of  Egypt, 
"  the  Pelusian  branch  of  the  Nile  is  choked  up,"  and 
the  plain  in  which  it  flowed,  except  in  a  few  stagnant 
pools,  is  undistinguished  from  the  sandy  desert  which 
now  surrounds  it  on  every  side.  In  the  intermediate 
space,  and  even  within  the  far  narrower  Hmits  now  occu- 
pied by  the  stream  of  the  Nile,  the  dry  lines  of  rivers 
and  canals  are  to  be  seen,  and  the  desert  covers  many 
extensive  regions  which  once  raised  Egypt  among  the 
chief  of  the  kingdoms.  With  the  exception  of  the  en- 
virons of  Rosetta  and  Damietta,  and  of  a  few  miserable 
villages,  in  traversing  the  once  rich  Delta  of  Egypt  from 
one  side  to  another,  the  traveller,  as  the  writer  witnessed, 
passes  through  a  desert;  and  where  streams  once  ran 
about  the  plants,  and  the  Httle  rivers  were  sent  out  among 
the  trees  of  the  field,  water-skins  are  a  necessary  equipage 
of  a  traveller,  and  can  only  be  filled  anew,  after  a  jour- 
ney of  eight  or  ten  hours,  or  of  a  longer  period,  and 
sometimes,  too,  at  an  unwholesome  stagnant  well,  of  the 
like  of  which  the  cattle  in  this  country  would  not  drink. 
Assuredly  the  desert  has  spread  over  a  large  portion  of  the 
once  fertile  land  of  Egypt.  The  land  is  waste,  and  every 
thing  is  withered,  where  the  rivers  have  been  turned  far 
away,  and  the  brooks  are  emptied  and  dried  up. 

The  most  recent  travellers  in  Egypt,  as  in  other  coun- 
tries, now  see  and  acknowledge  the  marvellous  fulfilment 
of  the  prophecies. 

"  Long,"  says  Lord  Lindsay,  "  did  we  gaze  on  the 
scene  around  and  below  us,  (temple  of  Carnac  at  Thebes) 
— utter,  awful  desolation!    Truly,  indeed,  has  No  been 


i53t)  EGYPT. 

*  rent  asunder.'  The  towers  of  the  second,  or  eastern 
propylon  are  mere  heaps  of  stones,  *  poured  down,' — as 
prophecy  and  modern  travellers  describe  the  foundations 
of  Samaria — into  the  court  on  one  side,  and  the  great 
hall  on  the  other ;  giant  columns  have  been  swept  away 
like  reeds  before  the  mighty  avalanche,"  &c. "  Re- 
turning to  the  great  obehsk,  and  seating  myself  on  the 
broken  shaft  of  its  prostrate  companion,  I  spent  some  de- 
lightful moments  in  musing  over  the  scene  of  ruins  scat- 
tered around  me,  so  visibly  smitten  by  the  hand  of  God, 
in  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies  that  describe  No-Ammon 
as  the  scene  of  desolation  I  then  beheld  her.  The  hand 
of  the  true  Jove  Ammon,  El-Araunah,  the  God  of 
Truth,  has  indeed  *  executed  judgments  on  all  the  gods 
of  Egypt,'  but  especially  on  his  spurious  representative, 
the  idol  of  this  most  stupendous  of  earthly  temples ;  silence 
reigns  in  its  courts ;  the  '  multitude  of  No'  has  been  cut 
off;  Pathros  is  ^  desolate  ;' — the  land  of  Ham  is  still  the 
basest  of  kingdoms : — so  sure  is  the  word  of  prophecy, 

so  visible  its  accomplishment." ^''  We   have   spent 

the  w^hole  day  in  visiting  the  site  of  Memphis  and  the 
pyramids  of  Dashour  and  Sacara.  Mounds  and  embank- 
ments, a  few  broken  stones,  and  two  colossal  statues, 
disinterred  a  few  years  ago  by  our  friend  Caviglia,  are 
the  solitary  remains  of  "the  ancient  capital  of  Lower 
Egypt.  We  rode  for  miles  through  groves  of  palm  and 
acacia,  cultivated  fields,  and  wastes  of  sand,  over  what 
we  knew  must  be  the  site  of  Memphis,  but  every  other 
vestige  of  her  ancient  grandeur  has  disappeared.  Noph 
is  indeed  *  waste  and  desolate.'  "^ 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  will  also  destroy  the 
idols,  and  I  will  cause  tJieir  images  to  cease  out  of  JVoph. 
Jind  I  will  make  Pathros  desolate,  and  I  will  set  fire  in 
2^an  (marg.  Sanis),  and  I  will  execute  judgments  in  JVb, 
and  I  will  pour  my  fury  upon  Sin,  the  strength  of  Egypt ; 
and  I  will  cut  of  the  multitude  of  JYo.  And  I  will  set 
fire  in  Egypt :  Sin  shall  have  great  pain,  and  Mo  shall 
be  rent  asunder,  and  JVoph  shall  have  distresses  daily.  The 
»  Lord  Lindsay's  Travels,  vol.  i.  pp.  185—189. 


EGYPT.  337 

young  Kien  of  Avon  (Heliopolis),  and  of  Pi-heseth  (Pelu- 
siuin),  shall  fall  by  the  sword :  and  these  cities  shall  go 
into  captivity.  At  Tehaphnehes  also  the  day  shall  be 
darkened,  when  I  shall  break  there  the  yokes  of  Egypt ; 
and  the  pomp  of  her  strength  shall  cease  in  her. —  Thus 
will  I  execute  judgments  in  Egypt ;  and  they  shall  know 
that  I  am  the  Lord.^^^ 

Though  Herodotus  numbered  the  cities  of  Egypt  by 
thousands,  yet  all  those  which  existed  in  the  days  of  the 
prophets  have  long  been  in  ruins.  Egypt,  of  old  ex- 
ceedingly rich  and  populous,  is  now,  except  where  still 
partially  watered  by  the  Nile  and  cultivated,  bare  and 
depopulated.  Its  two  great  cities,  Cairo  and  Alexandria, 
are  bordered  by  the  desert.  And  with  the  exception  of 
Rosetta  and  Damietta,  and  a  few  miserable  villages,  not 
a  single  town  is  to  be  met  with,  in  traversing  Lower 
Egypt  from  Alexandria  to  El  Arish,  or  from  one  extre- 
mity to  the  other.  Thebes,  once  famed  for  its  hundred 
gates,  may  be  called,  from  the  magnificence  of  its  re- 
mains, the  metropolis  of  ruins.  The  mummies,  so  abun- 
dant at  Memphis,  remain,  though  the  city  has  perished ; 
and  the  human  forms  which  once  peopled  it,  have  retained 
their  perfect  structure  long  after  its  palaces  and  temples 
have  mouldered  into  indistinguishable  heaps.  Heliopolis 
has  now  a  single  erect  obelisk  to  tell  that  the  mounds 
around  it  were  once  the  *  city  of  the  sun.'  A  single 
street,  with  its  central  square,  of  the  city  of  Alexandria, 
built  after  the  era  of  the  prophets,  occupied  a  greater 
space  than  the  modern  city.^  "At  Bubastis,  now  Tel 
Basta,  the  Pi-beseth  of  Scripture,  are  lofty  mounds,  and 
some  remains  of  the  ancient  city  of  Pasht.  Many  other 
mounds,  in  various  parts  of  the  Delta,  mark  the  sites  of 
ancient  towns."^'  The  author,  in  hastily  passing  through 
Egypt,  heard  of  ruins  in  -various  directions,  and  passed 
over  those  of  Zoan,'*  of  which,  besides  the  general  deso- 

1  Ezek.  XXX.  12—19.  2  See  Heath's  Plan  of  Alexandria. 

3  Wilkinson's  Thebes,  p.  347. 

4  Arriving  late  in  the  day  at  San  (Zoan)  my  friend  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Bonar  first  directed  my  attention  to  these  ruins. 

29 


338  EGYPT. 

lation  that  was  to  come  on  the  cities  of  Egypt,  the  pro- 
phet said,  /  mil  set  afire  in  Zoan.  As  the  Lord  wrought 
wonders  of  old  in  the  fields  of  Zoan,  so  that  city  (the 
locality  of  which  is  undoubted)  now  bears  in  its  ruins 
the  proof  of  its  ancient  greatness,  and  the  marks  of  its 
prophetic  fate.  The  remains  of  Zoan  being  little  known, 
as  only  partially  described  by  travellers,  may  be  more 
particularly  noticed. 

San,  or,  as  pronounced  by  the  Arabs  on  the  spot, 
Zaan,  a  small  fishing  village,  built  of  mud  and  brick, 
some  of  the  dwellihgs  consisting  of  the  former  and  some 
ot  the  latter,  is  the  only  representative  of  this  seat  of 
Pharaoh's  glory.  In  its  immediate  vicinity,  but  raised 
considerably  above  the  plain,  are  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 
city.  These,  in  general,  where  not  buried  under  sand, 
consist  of  large  heaps  of  debris,  formed  of  earth,  broken 
bricks,  and  tiles  in  great  abundance.  The  chief  remains, 
all  fallen,  and  lying  almost  in  straight  lines,  seem  to  have 
belonged  to  the  same  range  of  grand  and  public  edifices. 
On  the  remote  extremity  from  the  village,  high  sandy 
mounds  render  any  ruins  or  buildings  invisible,  if  ever, 
as  in  all  likelihood,  they  have  existed  there.  Two  frag- 
ments of  obelisks,  the  one  twenty-seven,  the  other  sixteen 
feet  long,  first  appear  above  the  sand.  At  the  distance 
of  sixty  yards,' upwards  of  twenty  large  blocks  of  granite, 
evidently  some  portion  of  an  ancient  building,  lie  on  the 
ground,  and  nearly  the  same  number  at  a  farther  similar 
distance.  Besides  these  last,  there  are  broken  fragments 
of  obelisks,  covered  with  rubbish,  and  a  stone  figure  or 
image,  in  a  sitting  position,  eleven  feet  in  height,  resting 
on  a  block  five  feet  high,  and  four  broad,  but  lying 
nearly  horizontally,  with  head  inclined  downwards,  as  if 
licking  the  dust.  About  thirty-six  yards  farther  on,  in 
the  same  direction,  are  three  broken  obelisks,  of  one  of 
which,  the  top  or  upper  part,  which  has  been  broken  off, 
is  twenty-four  feet  long,  lying  horizontally,  while  the 
lower  part,  in  two  other  fragments,  dips  obliquely  into 
the  sand.  The  second  obelisk,  lying  near  it,  is  hid  at 
both   extremities,  and   broken   in  the  middle :    though 


EGYPT.  339 

above  thirty  feet  long,  it  is  evident  that  only  a  portion  of 
it  is  seen,  the  narrowest  part  of  which  that  is  visible,  is 
four  feet  in  diameter.  The  third  is  evidently  in  an  un- 
finished state.  And  this  is  a  token,  among  other  proofs, 
that  the  Lord  has  been  a  swift  messenger  against  Egypt, 
and  that  his  judgments  have  come  upon  it  suddenly.  At 
a  farther  distance  of  fifty  yards,  two  other  obelisks  lie 
contiguous ;  and  at  a  little  distance  from  these,  in  a  sin- 
gle spot,  from  seventy  to  eighty  largest  ones  or  blocks  of 
granite  are  crowded  together,  (some  of  them  six  feet  by 
four,)  most  of  which  are  partly  hid  in  the  ground,  and 
some  scattered  around.  Fragments  of  ruins  lie  over  a 
large  extent,  and  among  these  many  vitrified  pieces,  larger 
than  those  on  Gaza,  are  to  be  found,  clearly  indicating 
that  the  Lord  hath  set  fire  in  Zoan. 

Can  any  words  be  more  free  from  ambiguity,  or  could 
any  events  be  more  wonderful  in  their  nature,  or  more 
unlikely  or  impossible  to  have  been  foreseen  by  man, 
than  these  prophecies  concerning  Egypt  ?  The  long  line 
of  its  kings  commenced  with  the  first  ages  of  the  world, 
and,  while  it  was  yet  unbroken,  its  final  termination  was 
revealed.  The  very  attempt  once  made  by  infidels  to 
show,  from  the  recorded  number  of  its  monarchs  and  the 
duration  of  their  reigns,  that  Egypt  was  a  kingdom  pre- 
vious to  the  Mosaic  era  of  the  deluge,  places  the  won- 
derful nature  of  these  predictions  respecting  it  in  the 
most  striking  view.  And  the  previous  experience  of 
two  thousand  years,  during  which  period  Egypt  had 
never  been  without  a  prince  of  its  own,  seemed  to  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  those  predicted  events  which  the 
experience  of  the  last*  two  thousand  years  has  amply 
verified.  Though  it  had  often  tyrannized  over  Judea 
and  the  neighbouring  nations,  the  Jewish  prophets  fore- 
told that  its  own  sceptre  should  depart  away  ;  and  that 
that  country  of  kings  (for  the  numbers  of  its  contempo- 
rary as  well  as  successive  monarchs  may  w^arrant  the 
appellation)  would  never  have  a  prince  of  its  own  ;  and 
that  it  would  be  laid  waste  by  the  hands  of  strangers. 
They  foretold  that  it  should   be  a  base  kingdom,  the 


340  EGYPT. 

basest  of  kingdoms;  that  it  should  be  desolate  itself, 
and  surrounded  by  desolation  ;  and  that  it  should  never 
exalt  itself  any  more  above  the  nations.  They  describe 
its  i^ominious  subjection  and  unparalleled  baseness, 
notwithstanding  that  its  past  and  present  degeneracy 
bears,  not  a  more  remote  resembiance  to  the  former  great- 
ness and  pride  of  its  power  than  the  frailty  of  its  mud- 
walled  fabrics  now  bears  to  the  stabiHty  of  its  imperish- 
able pyramids.  Such  prophecies,  accomplished  in  such 
a  manner,  prove,  without  a  comment,  that  they  must  be 
the  revelation  of  the  omniscient  Ruler  of  the  universe.* 

On  a  review  of  the  prophecies  relative  to  Nineveh, 
Babylon,  Tyre,  and  Egypt,  may  we  not,  by  the  plainest 
induction  from  indisputable  facts,  conclude  that  the  fate 
of  these  cities  and  countries,  as  well  as  of  the  land  of 
Judea  and  the  adjoining  territories,  demonstrates  the 
truth  of  all  the  prophecies  respecting  them  ?  and  that 
these  prophecies,  ratified  by  the  events,  give  the  most 
powerfiil  of  testimonies  to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion ?  The  desolation  was  the  work  of  man,  and  was 
effected  by  the  enemies  of  Christianity ;  and  would  have 
been  the  same  as  it  is,  though  not  a  single  prophecy  had 
been  uttered.     It  is  the  prediction  of  these  facts,  in  all 

1  Egypt  has,  indeed,  lately  risen,  under  its  present  spirited  but 
despotic  pasha,  who  is  both  an  oppressor  and  a  stranger,  to  a  degree 
of  political  importance  and  power  unknown  to  it  for  many  past 
centuries.  Yet  this  fact,  instead  of  militating  against  the  truth 
of  prophecy,  may,  possibly  at  no  distant  period,  serve  to  illustrate 
another  prediction,  which  implies  that,  however  base  and  degraded 
it  might  continue  to  be  throughout  many  generations,  it  would, 
notwithstanding,  have  strength  sufficient  to  be  looked  to  for  aid 
or  protection,  even  at  the  time  of  thff  restoration  of  the  Jews  to 
Judea,  who  will  seek  "  to  strengthen  themselves  in  the  strength 
of  Pharaoh,  and  trust  in  the  shadow  of  Egypt."  Other  prophecies 
respecting  it  await  their  fulfilment.  Yet,  whatever  its  present  ap- 
parent strength  may  be,  it  is  still  but "  the  shadow  of  Egypt."  (Isa. 
XXX.  2,  xxxi.  1.)  The  whole  earth  shall  yet  rejoice ;  and  Egypt  shall 
not  be  for  ever  base.  The  Lord  shall  smite  Egypt ;  he  shall  smile  and 
heal  it ;  and  they  shall  return  to  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  he  entreated  of 
them,  and  shall  heal  them.  And  in  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third 
with  Egypt  and  tvith  Assyria,  even  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  landy 
&c.     (Isa.  xix.  19—25.) 


EGYPT.  341 

their  particulars,  infinitely  surpassing  human  foresight, 
which  is  the  work  of  God  alone.  And  the  ruin  of  these 
empires,  while  it  substantiates  the  truth  of  every  iota  of 
these  predictions,  is  thus  a  miraculous  confirmation  and 
proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  By  what 
fatality  is  it,  then,  that  infidels  should  have  chosen  for 
the  display  of  their  power  this  very  field,  where,  without 
conjuring,  as  they  have  done,  a  lying  spirit  from  the 
ruins,  they  might  have  read  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophe- 
cies on  every  spot  ?  Instead  of  disproving  the  truth  of 
every  religion,  the  greater  these  ruins  are,  the  more 
strongly  do  they  authenticate  the  scriptural  prophecies ; 
and  it  is  not,  at  least,  on  this  stronghold  of  faith  that  the 
standard  of  infidelity  can  be  erected.  Every  fact  related 
by  Volney  is  a  witness  against  all  his  speculation  ;  and 
out  of  his  own  mouth  is  he  condemned.  Can  any  pur- 
posed deception  be  more  glaring  or  great,  than  to  over- 
look all  these  prophecies,  and  to  raise  an  argument 
against  the  truth  of  Christianity  from  the  very  facts  by 
which  they  have  been  fulfilled  ?  Or  can  any  evidence 
of  divine  inspiration  be  more  convincing  and  clear  than 
to  view,  in  conjunction,  all  these  marvellous  predictions, 
and  their  exact  completion .'' 


29* 


M2  ARABS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   ARABS. 

The  history  of  the  Arabs,  so  opposite  in  many  respects 
to  that  of  the  Jews,  but  as  singular  as  theirs,  was  con- 
cisely and  clearly  foretold.  It  was  prophesied  concern- 
ing Ishmael : — "  He  will  be  a  wild  man  ;  his  hand  will 
be  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  will  be 
against  him :  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  .of  all 
his  brethren.  I  will  make  him  fruitful,  and  multiply 
him  exceedingly ;  and  I  will  make  him  a  great  nation."* 
The  fate  of  Ishmael  is  here  identified  with  that  of  his 
descendants ;  and  the  same  character  is  common  to  them 
both.  The  historical  evidence  of  the  fact,  the  universal 
tradition,  and  constant  boast  of  the  Arabs  themselves, 
their  language,  and  the  preservation  for  many  ages  of  an 
original  rite,  derived  from  him  as  their  primogenitor, 
confirm  the  truth  of  their  descent  from  Ishmael.  The 
fulfilment  of  the  prediction  is  obvious.  Even  Gibbon, 
while  he  attempts  from  the  exceptions  which  he  specifies 
to  evade  the  force  of  the  fact,  that  the  Arabs  have  main- 
tained a  perpetued  independence,  acknowledges  that  these 
exceptions  are  temporary  and  local ;  that  the  body  of  the 
nation  has  escaped  the  yoke  of  the  most  powerful  mo- 
narchies ;  and  that  "  the  arms  of  Sesostris  and  Cyrus,  of 
Pompey  and  Trajan,  could  never  achieve  the  conquest 
of  Arabia.""  But  even  the  exceptions  which  he  speci- 
fies, though  they  were  justly  stated,  and  though  not 
coupled  with  such  admissions  as  invalidate  them,  would 
not  detract  from  the  truth,  of  the  prophecy.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  Arabs  was  proverbial  in  ancient  as  well 
as  in  modern  times ;  and  the  present  existence,  as  a  free 
and  independent  nation,  ,of  a  people  who  derive  their 

•  Genesis  xvi.  12 ;  xvii.  20. 

2  Gibbon's  Hist.  vol.  ix.  c.  1.  p.  230. 


ARABS.  343 

descent  from  so  high  antiquity,  djemonstrates  that  they 
have  never  been  wholly  subdued,  as  all  the  nations 
around  them  have  unquestionably  been ;  and  that  they 
have  ever  dwelt  in  the  presence  of  their  brethren. 
They  not  only  subsist  unconquered  to  this  day,  but  the 
prophesied  and  primitive  wildness  of  their  race,  and 
their  hostility  to  all,  remained  unsubdued  and  unaltered. 
^^ They  are  a  wild  people;  their  hand  is  against  every 
man,  and  every  man'^s  hand  is  against  themy  In  the 
words  of  Gibbon,  which  strikingly  assimilate  with  those 
of  the  prophecy,  they  are  "  armed  against  mankind.^'' 
Plundering  is  their  profession.  Their  alliance  is  never 
courted,  and  can  never  be  obtained ;  and  all  that  the 
Turks,  or  Persians,  or  any  of  their  neighbours,  can  stipu- 
late for  from  them,  is  a  partial  and  purchased  forbear- 
ance. Even  the  British,  who  have  established  a  resi- 
dence in  almost  every  country,  have  entered  the  territo- 
ries of  the  descendants  of  Ishmael  to  accomplish  only  the 
premeditated  destruction  of  a  fort,  and  to  retire.  It  can- 
not be  alleged,  with  truth,  that  their  peculiar  character 
and  manner,  and  its  uninterrupted  permanency,  are  the 
necessary  results  of  the  nature  of  their  country.  They 
have  continued  wild  and  uncivilized,  and  have  retained 
their  habits  of  hostility  towards  all  the  rest  of  the  human 
race,  though  they  possessed  for  three  hundred  years 
countries  the  most  opposite  in  their  nature  from  the 
mountains  of  Arabia.  The  greatest  part  of  the  temperate 
zone  was  included  within  the  limits  of  the  Arabian  con- 
quests ;  and  their  empire  extended  from  the  confines  of 
India  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,*  and  embraced  a 
wider  range  of  territory  than  ever  was  possessed  by  the 
Romans,  those  boasted  masters  of  the  world.  The  period 
of  their  conquest  and  dominion  was  sufficient,  under  such 
circumstances,  to  have  changed  the  manners  of  any  peo- 
ple :  but,  whether  in  the  land  of  Shinar  or  in  the  valleys 
of  Spain,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  or  the  Tagus,  in 
Araby  the  blessed  or  Araby  the  barren,  the  posterity  of 
Ishmael  have  ever  maintained  their  prophetic  character ; 
'  Gibbon,  vol.  ix.  c.  li.  p.  501,  vol.  x.  c.  lii.  p.  2. 


344  ARABS. 

they  have  remained,  under  every  change  of  condition,  a 
wild  people ;  their  hand  has  still  been  against  every  man, 
and  every  man's  hand  against  them. 

The  natural  reflection  of  a  recent  traveller,  on  ex^ 
amining  the  peculiarities  of  an  Arab  tribe,  of  which  he 
was  an  eye-witness,  may  suffice^,  without  any  art  of  con- 
troversy, for  the  illustration  of  this  prophecy  : — "  On  the 
smallest  computation,  such  must  have  been  the  manners 
of  those  people  for  more  than  three  thousand  years :  thus 
in  all  things  verifying  the  prediction  given  of  Ishmael  at 
his  birth,  that  he,  in  his  posterity,  should  be  a  wild  man, 
and  always  continue  to  be  so,  though  they  shall  dwell 
for  ever  in  the  presence  of  their  brethren.  And  that  an 
acute  and  active  people,  surrounded  for  ages  by  polished 
and  luxurious  nations,  should,  from  their  earliest  to  their 
latest  times,  be  still  found  a  wild  people,  dwelling  in  the 
presence  of  all  their  brethren,  (as  we  may  call  those  na- 
tions,) unsubdued  and  unchangeable,  is  indeed  a  stand- 
ing miracle ;  one  of  those  mysterious  facts  which  establish 
the  truth  of  prophecy."^ 

Recent  discoveries  have  brought  to  light  the  mira- 
culous preservation  and  existence,  as  a  distinct  people, 
of  a  less  numerous,  but  not  less  interesting  race ;  "  a 
plant  which  grew  up  under  the  mighty  cedar  of  Israel, 
but  was  destined  to  flourish  when  that  proud  tree  was 
levelled  to  the  earth."^  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
the  God  of  Israel,  Jonadab  the  son  of  Rechab  shall  not 
want  a  man  to  stand  before  me  for  ever."^  The  Rechab- 
ites  still  exist,  a  "  distinct  and  easily  distinguishable" 
people.  They  boast  of  their  descent  from  Rechab,  pro- 
fess pure  Judaism,  and  all  know  Hebrew.  Yet  they 
live  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mecca,  the  chief  seat  of 
Mahometanism,  and  their  number  is  stated  to  be  sixty 
thousand.  The  account  given  of  them  by  Benjamin  of 
Tudela,  in  the  twelfth  century ,"*  has  very  recently  been 
3onfirmed  by  Mr.  Wolff;    and,  as  he  witnessed,  and 

•  Sir  R.  K.  Porter's  Travels,  p.  304. 

2  Quarterly  Review,  Num.  Ixxv.  p.  142.  »  Jer.  xxxv.  19. 

*  Basnage's  History,  p.  620. 


AFRICANS,  ETC.  345 

heard  from  an  intrepid  "  Rechabite  cavalier,"  there  is 
not  a  man  wanting  to  stand  up  as  a  son  of  Rechab.^ 


SLAVERY     OF     THE    AFRICANS EUROPEAN     COLONIES     IN 

ASIA. 

Not  only  do  the  different  countries  and  cities,  which 
form  the  subjects  of  prophecy,  exhibit  to  this  day  their 
predicted  fate,  but  there  is  also  a  prophecy  recorded  as 
delivered  in  an  age  coeval  with  the  deluge,  when  the 
members  of  a  single  family  included  the  whole  of  the 
human  race,  the  fulfilment  of  which  is  conspicuous  even 
at  the  present  time.  And  while  the  fate  of  the  Jews 
and  of  the  Arabs,  throughout  many  ages,  has  confirmed, 
in  every  instance  in  which  the  period  of  their  prediction 
is  already  past,  the  prophecies  relative  to  the  descend- 
ants of  Isaac  and  of  Ishmael ;  existing  facts,  which  are 
prominent  features  in  the  history  of  the  world,  are  equally 
corroborative  of  the  predictions  respecting  the  sons  of 
Noah.  The  unnatural  conduct  of  Ham,  and  the  dutiful 
and  respectful  behaviour  of  Shem  and  Japheth  towards 
their  aged  father,  gave  rise  to  the  prediction  of  the  future 
fate  of  their  posterity,  without  being  at  all  assigned  as 
the  cause  of  that  fate.  But  whatever  was  the  occasion 
on  which  it  was  delivered,  the  truth  of  the  prophecy 
must  be  tried  by  its  completion  : — "  Cursed  be  Canaan  ; 
a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren. 
Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Shem ;  and  Canaan  shall 
be  his  servant.  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem ;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his 
servant.'"^ 

The  historical  part  of  Scripture,  by  its  describing  so 
particularly  the  respective  settlements  of  the  descendants 
of  Noah,    *^  after  their   generations  in  their  nations," 

1  See  Wolff's  Journal,  (1828,)  vol.  ii.  pp.  276,  331—336. 

2  Geu.  ix.  26,  26,  27. 


346  AFRICANS,   ETC. 

affords,  to  this  day,  the  means  of  trying  the  truth  of  the 
prediction,  and  of  ascertaining  whether  ihe  prophetic 
character,  as  given  by  the  patriarch  of  the  postdiluvian 
world,  be  still  applicable  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  dif- 
ferent regions  of  the  earth  which  were  peopled  by  the 
posterity  of  Shem,  of  Ham,  and  of  Japheth.  The  isles 
of  tfie  gentiles,^  or  the  countries  beyond  the  Mediterra- 
nean, to  which  they  passed  by  sea,  viz.  those  of  Europe, 
were  divided  by  the  sons  of  Japheth.  The  descendants 
Df  Ham  inhabited  Africa  and  the  south-western  parts  of 
A-sia.^  The  families  of  the  Canaanites  were  spread 
abroad.  TJie  border  of  the  Canaanites  was  from  Sidon.^ 
The  city  of  Tyre  was  called  the  daughter  of  Sidon  ;  and 
Carthage,  the  most  celebrated  city  of  Africa,  was  peo- 
pled from  Tyre.  And  the  dwellings  of  the  sons  of  Shem 
were  unto  the  east,*  or  Asia.  The  particular  allotment, 
or  portion  of  each,  "  after  their  families,  after  their 
tongues,  in  their  countries,  and  in  their  nations,"^  is 
distinctly  specified.  And  although  the  different  nations 
descended  from  any  one  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  have  inter- 
mingled with  each  other,  and  undergone  many  revolu- 
tions, yet  the  three  great  divisions  of  the  world  have 
remained  distinct,  as  separately  peopled  and  possessed 
by  the  posterity  of  each  of  the  sons  of  Noah.  On  this 
subject  the  earliest  commentators  are  agreed,  before  the 
existence  of  those  facts  which  give  to  the  prophecy  its 
fullest  illustration.  The  facts  themselves,  by  which  the 
prediction  is  verified,  are  so  notorious  and  so  applicable, 
that  the  most  brief  and  simple  statement  may  suffice. 
Before  the  propagation  of  Christianity,  which  first  spoke 
peace  to  earth,  taught  a  law  of  universal  love,  and  called 
all  men  brethren,  slavery  everywhere  prevailed,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  human  race,  throughout  all  the  world, 
were  born  to  slavery,  and  unredeemed  for  life.  Man 
can  now -boast  of  a  nobler  birthright.  But,  though  long 
fcmished  from  almost  all  Europe,  slavery  still  lingers  in 
Africa.     That  country  is  distinguished  above  every  other 

'  Gen.  X.  5.        2  ibid.        3  Gen.  x.  6,  18,  19.        4  Gen.  x.  30* 
^  Gen.  X.  31,  32 See  Mede,  Die.  L.  p.  377,  &c. 


AFRICANS,  ETC. 


347 


as  the  land  of  slavery.  Slaves  at  home,  and  transported 
for  slavery,  the  poor  Africans,  the  descendants  of  Ham, 
are  the  servants  of  servants,  or  slaves  to  others.  Yet  so 
unlikely  was  this  fact  to  have  been  foreseen  by  man, 
that,  for  centuries  after  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament 
history,  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  disputed  with  the  Ro- 
mans the  empire  of  the  world.  But  Hannibal,  who  was 
once  almost  master  of  Rome  and  of  Europe,  was  forced 
to  yield  to  and  to  own  the  fate  of  Carthage.* 

"  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem."  Some  of  the  ablest  interpreters  of  pro- 
phecy, of  a  former  age,  conceived  that  this  prediction 
was  fulfilled,  not  only  by  the  conquests  which  the  Mace- 
donians and  the  Romans  obtained  over  many  of  the 
countries  of  Asia,  but  that  the  promise  or  blessing  of 
enlargement  to  Japheth  was  also  verified  in  a  metapho- 
rical sense,  by  the  extension  of  the  knowledge  of  true 
religion  to  the  nations  of  Europe.  But  it  stands  not  now 
in^need  of  any  questionable  interpretation,  having  re- 
ceived a  literal  accomplishment.  What  is  at  present  the 
relative  situation  or  connection  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe  and  of  Asia,  the  descendants  of  Japheth  and  of 
Shem  ?  May  not  the  former  be  said  literally  to  dwell  in 
the  tents  of  the  latter  ?  Or  what  simile,  drawn  from  the 
simplicity  of  primeval  ages,  could  be  more  strikingly 
graphic  of  the  numerous  and  extensive  European  colo- 
nies in  Asia  ?  And  how  much  have  the  posterity  of 
Japheth  been  enlarged  within  the  regions  of  the  posterity 
of  Shem  ?  In  how  many  of  their  ancient  cities  do  they 
dwell  ?  How  many  settlements  have  they  established  ? 
— while  there  is  not  a  single  spot  in  Europe  the  colony 
or  the  property  of  any  of  the  nations  whom  the  Scrip- 
tures represent  as  descended  from  Shem,  or  who  inhabit 
any  part  of  that  quarter  of  the  world  which  they  pos- 
sessed. And  it  may  be  said,  in  reference  to  England, 
and  to  the  immense  extent  of  the  British  Asiatic  domi- 
nions, that  the  natives  of  the  isles  of  the  gentiles  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  the  east!  From  whence,  then,  could 
•  Livii  Hist.  lib.  xxvii.  c.  51  ;  Mede,  ibid. 


348  THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    OF    ASIA. 

su6h  a  prophecy  have  emanated,  but  from  inspiration  by 
Him  whose  presence  and  whose  prescience  are  alike 
unlimited  by  space  or  by  time  ? 

Whatever  events  the  prophecies  reveal,  they  never 
sanction  any  iniquity  or  evil.  J^Fhe  wrath  of  man  work- 
eth  nbt  the  righteousness  of  God,  though  it  be  made  to 
praise  him.  And  any  defence  or  attempted  justification 
of  slavery,  or  of  man  having  any  moral  right  of  property 
in  man,  must  be  sought  in  vain  from  the  fulfilment  of 
this  prediction.  Nebuchadnezzar  was  the  guilty  instiu- 
ment  of  righteous  judgments;  and  although  in  the  ex- 
ecution of  these  he  was  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  it  was 
his  own  gain  and  glory  which  he  sought,  and  after  hav- 
ing subdued  nations  not  a  few,  he  was  driven  from  men, 
and  had  his  dwelling  with  the  beasts.  Never  were  judg- 
ments more  clearly  marked  than  those  which  have  rested 
on  the  Jews  in  every  country  under  heaven.  Yet  he 
that  toucheth  them,  toucheth  the  apple  of  his  eye :  and  the 
year  of  recompences  for  the  controversy  of  Zion  shall'be 
the  day  of  the  Lord's  vengeance,  when  he  will  plead 
with  all  flesh  for  his  people  and  for  his  heritage.  And 
if  these  examples  suffice  not  to  show  that  it  is  a  wresting 
of  Scripture  to  their  destruction,  for  any  to  seek  from 
them  the  vindication  of  slavery,  because  Canaan  was  to 
be  the  servant  of  servants  unto  his  brethren,  yet  they 
who  profess  to  look  here  to  the  holi/  Scriptures  for  a 
warrant,  because  that  fact  was  foretold,  should  remember, 
that  though  Christ  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  "  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknow- 
ledge of  God,  it  was  by  wicked  hands  that  he  was  cru- 
cified and  slain.''  God  hath  made  of  one  flesh  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  And,  were  the  gospel  universally 
and  rightly  appealed  to,  no  other  bond  would  be  known 
among  men  but  that  »f  Christian  brotherhood. 


THE   SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF  ASIA.  349 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    OF   ASIA. 

Incomplete  as  has  been  the  view  given  in  the  fore- 
going pages  of  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  yet  do  not 
the  joint  clearness  of  the  prophecies  themselves,  and  the 
profusion  of  precise  facts  which  show  their  literal  fulfil- 
ment, bid  defiance  to  the  most  subtle  skeptic  to  forge  or 
feign  the  shadow  of  a  just  reason  to  prove  how  they 
could  all  have  been  spoken,  except  by  inspiration  of 
God  ?  The  sure  word  of  prophecy  has  indeed  unfolded 
many  a  desolation  which  has  come  upon  the  earth ;  but 
while  it  thus  reveals  the  operation,  in  some  of  its  bear- 
ings, of  the  "  mystery  of  iniquity,"  it  forms  itself  a 
part  of  the  "  mystery  of  godliness :"  and  it  is  no  less  the 
testimony  of  Jesus,  because  it  shows,  as  far  as  earthly 
ruins  can  reveal,  the  progress  and  the  issue  of  the  do- 
minion of  "  other  lords"  over  the  hearts  of  the  children 
of  men.  The  sins  of  men  have  caused,  and  the  cruelty 
of  men  has  effected  the  dire  desolations  which  the  word 
of  God  foretold.  Signs  and  tokens  of  his  judgments 
there  indeed  have  been,  but  they  are  never  to  be  found 
but  where  iniquity  first  prevailed.  And  though  all  other 
warnings  were  to  fail,  the  sight  of  his  past  judgments, 
and  the  sounding  of  those  that  are  to  come,  might  teach 
the  unrepenling  and  unconverted  sinner  to  give  heed  to 
the  threatenings  of  his  word  and  to  the  terrors  of  the 
Lord,  and  to  try  his  ways  and  turn  unto  God,  while 
space  for  repentance  may  be  found,  ere,  as  death  leaves 
him,  judgment  shall  find  him.  And  may  not  the  desola- 
tions which  God  has  wrought  upon  the  earth,  and  that 
accredit  his  word,  wherein  life  and  immortality  are 
30 


350  THE   SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF  ASIA. 

brought  to  light,  teach  the  man  whose  God  is  the  world, 
to  cease  to  account  it  worthy  of  his  worship  and  of  his 
love,  and  to  abjure  that  "  covetousness,  which  is  idola- 
try," till  the  idol  of  mammon  in  the  temple  within  shall 
fall,  as  fell  the  image  of  Dagon  before  the  ark  of  the 
Lord,  in  which  "  the  testimony"- was  kept? 

But  naming,  as  millions  do,  the  name  of  Christ,  with- 
out departing  from  iniquity,  there  is  another  warning 
voice  that  may  come  more  closely  to  them  all.  And  it 
is  not  only  from  the  desolate  regions  where  heathens 
dwelt,  which  show  how  holy  men  of  old  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  also  from  the  ruins 
of  some  of  the  cities  where  churches  were  formed  by 
apostles,  and  where  the  religion  of  Jesus  once  existed  in 
its  purity,  that  all  may  learn  to  know  that  God  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons,  and  that  he  will  by  no  means  clear 
the  guilty.  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 

What  church  could  rightfully  claim  or  ever  seek  a 
higher  title  than  that  which  is  given  in  Scripture  to  the 
seven  churches  of  Asia,  the  angels  of  which  were  the 
seven  stars  in  the  right  hand  of  Him  who  is  the  first  and 
the  last,  of  Him  that  liveth  and  was  dead  and  is  alive 
for  evermore,  and  that  hath  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death ; 
and  which  themselves  were  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks in  the  midst  of  which  he  walked  ?  And  who  that 
hath  an  ear  to  hear,  may  not  humbly  hear  and  greatly 
profit  by  what  the  Spirit  said  unto  them.* 

The  Church  of  Ephesus,  after  a  commendation  of 
their  first  works,  to  which  they  were  commanded  to  re- 
turn, were  accused  of  having  left  their  first  love,  and 
threatened  with  the  removal  of  their  candlestick  out  of 
its  place,  except  they  should  repent.^  Ephesus  is  situated 
nearly  fifty  miles  south  of  Smyrna.  It  was  the  metropo- 
lis of  Ionia,  and  a  great  and  opulent  city,  and  (accord- 
ing to  Strabo)  the  greatest  emporium  of  Asia  Minor.  It 
was  chiefly  famous  for  the  temple  of  Diana,  "  whom  all 
Asia  worshipped,"  which  was  adorned  with  one  hundred 
'  Rev.  ii.  and  iii.  2  Rev.  ii.  5. 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES  OF   ASIA.  351 

and  twenty-seven  columns  of  Parian  marble,  each  of  a 
single  shaft,  and  sixty  feet  high,  and  which  formed  one 
of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  w^orld.  The  remains  of  its 
magnificent  theatre,  in  which  it  is  said  that  twenty  thou- 
sand people  could  easily  have  been  seated,  are  yet  to  be 
seen.^  But  "  a  few  heaps  of  stones,  and  some  miserable 
mud  cottages,  occasionally  tenanted  by  Turks,  without 
one  Christian  residing  there,  are  all  the  remains  of  an- 
cient Ephesus."^  It  is,  as  described  by  different  travellers, 
a  solemn  and  most  forlorn  spot.  The  epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians  is  read  throughout  the  world :  but  there  is  none  in 
Ephesus  to  read  it  now.  They  left  their  first  love  ;  they 
returned  not  to  their  first  works.  Their  candlestick  has 
been  removed  out  of  its  place;  and  the  great  city  of 
Ephesus  is  no  more. 

The  Church  of  Smyrna  was  approved  of  as  "  rich," 
and  no  judgment  was  denounced  against  it.  They  were 
warned  of  a  tribulation  of  ten  days,  (the  ten  years^  per- 
secution by  Dioclesian,)  and  were  enjoined  to  be  faithful 
unto  death,  and  they  would  receive  a  crown  of  life.^ 
And,  unlike  to  the  fate  of  the  more  famous  city  of  Ephesus, 
Smyrna  is  still  a  large  city,  containing  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  with  several  Greek  churches  ;  and 
an  English  and  other  Christian  ministers  have  resided  in 
it.  The  light  has  indeed  become  dim,  but  the  candle- 
stick has  not  been  wholly  removed  out  of  its  place. 

The  Church  of  Pergamos  is  commended  for  holding 
fast  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  not  denying  his  faith, 
during  a  time  of  persecution,  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
wicked  city.  But  there  were  some  in  it  who  held  doc- 
trines, and  did  deeds,  which  the  Lord  hated.  Against 
them  He  was  to  fight  with  the  sword  of  his  mouth  ;  and 
dll  were  called  to  repent.  But  it  is  not  said,  as  of  Ephe- 
sus, that  their  candlestick  would  be  removed  out  of  its 
place.''  Pergamos  is  situated  to  the  north  of  Smyrna,  at 
a  distance  of  nearly  sixty-four  miles,  and  "  was  formerly 

1  Acts  xix.  29. 

2  Arundel's  Visit  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  p.  27. 

3  Rev.  ii.  8,  11.  4  Rev.  ii.  12—16. 


352  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF  ASIA. 

the  metropolis  of  Hellespontic  Mysia."  It  still  contains 
at  least  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  fifteen  hun,- 
dred  are  Greeks,  and  two  hundred  Armenians,  each  of 
whom  has  a  church. 

In  the  Church  of  Thyatira,  like  that  of  Pergamos, 
some  tares  were  soon  mingled  with  the  wheat.  He  who 
hath  eyes  like  unto  a  flame  of  fire,  discerned  both.  Yet 
happily  for  the  souls  of  the  people,  more  than  for  the 
safety  of  the  city,  the  general  character  of  that  church, 
as  it  then  existed,  is  thus  described :  "  I  know  thy 
works,  and  charity,  and  service,  and  faith,  and  thy  pa- 
tience, and  thy  works  ;  and  the  last  to  be  more  than  the 
first."^  But  against  those — for  such  there  were  among 
them,  who  had  committed  fornication,  and  eaten  things 
sacrificed  unto  idols,  to  whom  the  Lord  gave  space  to 
repent  of  their  fornication,  and  they  repented  not — great 
tribulation  was  denounced ;  and  to  every  one  of  them 
was  to  be  given  according  to  their  works.  These,  thus 
warned  while  on  earth  in  vain,  have  long  since  passed, 
whither  all  are  daily  hastening,  to  the  place  where  no 
repentance  can  be  found,  and  no  work  be  done.  "  But 
unto  the  rest  in  Thyatira,  (as  many  as  have  not  known 
the  depths  of  Satan,)  I  will  put  upon  you,  saith  the  Lord, 
none  other  burden."^  There  were  those  in  Thyatira 
who  could  save  a  city.  It  still  exists,  while  greater 
cities  have  fallen.  Mr.  Hartley,  who  visited  it  in  1826, 
describes  it  as  '^  embosomed  in  cypresses  and  poplars." 
The  Greeks  are  said  to  occupy  three  hundred  houses, 
and  the  Armenians  thirty.     Each  of  them  has  a  church. 

The  Church  of  Sardis  differed  from  the  churches  of 
Pergamos  and  Thyatira.  They  had  not  denied  the 
faith ;  but  the  Lord  had  a  few  things  against  them,  for 
there  were  some  evil  doers  among  them,  and  on  those,  if 
they  repented  not,  judgment  was  to  rest.  But  in  Sardis, 
great  though  the  city  was,  and  founded  though  the 
church  had  been  by  an  apostle,  there  were  only  a  few 
names,  which  had  not  defiled  their  garments.  And  to 
that  church  the  Spirit  said,  "  I  know  thy  works,  that 
»  Rev.  ii.  19.  2  Rev.  ii.  24. 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES  OF   ASIA.  353 

thou  hast  a  name  that  thou  livest,  and  art  dead."  But 
the  Lord  is  long-suffering,  not  willing  that  any  should 
perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repentance.  And 
the  church  of  Sardis  was  thus  warned  :  "Be  watchful, 
and  strengthen  the  things  which  remain,  that  are  ready 
to  die ;  for  I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect  before 
God.  Remember,  therefore,  how  thou  hast  received  and 
heard,  and  hold  fast  and  repent.  If  therefore  thou  shalt 
not  watch,  I  will  come  on  thee  as  a  thief,  and  thou  shalt 
not  know  what  hour  I  shall  come  upon  thee."^  The 
state  of  Sardis  now  is  a  token  that  the  warning  was 
given  in  vain  ;  and  shows  that  the  threatenings  of  the 
Lord,  when  disregarded,  become  certain  judgments. 
Sardis,  the  capital  of  Lydia,  was  a  great  and  renowned 
city,  where  the  wealth  of  Croesus,  its  king,  was  accu- 
mulated, and  became  even  a  proverb.  But  now  a  few 
wretched  mud  huts,  "  scattered  among  the  ruins,"  are 
the  only  dwellings  in  Sardis,  and  form  the  lowly  home 
of  Turkish  herdsmen,  who  are  its  only  inhabitants.  As 
the  seat  of  a  Christian  church,  it  has  lost — all  it  had  to 
lose — the  name.     "  No  Christians  reside  on  the  spot." 

"  And  to  the  angel  of  the  Church  in  Philadelphia 
write,  These  things  saith  He  that  is  holy.  He  that  is  true, 
He  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  He  that  openeth  and  no 
man  shutteth,  and  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth  ;  I  know 
thy  works  ;  behold,  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door, 
and  no  man  can  shut  it ;  for  thou  hast  a  little  strength, 
and  hast  kept  my  word,  and  hast  not  denied  my  name. 
Because  thou  hast  kept  the  word  of  my  patience,  I  also 
will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of  temptation,  which  shall 
come  upon  all  the  world.  "^  The  promises  of  the  Lord 
are  as  sure  as  his  threatenings.  Philadelphia  alone  long 
withstood  the  power  of  the  Turks,  and  in  the  words  of 
Gibbon,  "  at  length  capitulated  with  the  proudest  of  the 
Ottomans.  Among  the  Greek  colonies  and  churches  of 
Asia,"  he  adds,  "  Philadelphia  is  still  erect ;  a  column 
in  a  scene  of  ruins. "^     "It  is  indeed  an  interesting  cir- 

'  Rev.  iii.  2,  3.  2  Rev.  iii.  7,  8,  10. 

3  Gibbon,  vol.  xi.  ch,  Ixiv.  p.  427. 

30* 


354  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF  ASIa. 

cumstance,"  says  Mr.  Hartley,  "to  find  Christianity 
more  flourishing  here  than  in  many  other  parts ,  of  the 
Turkish  empire :  there  is  still  a  numerous  Christian 
population  ;  they  occupy  three  hundred  houses.  Divine 
service  is  performed  every  Sunday  in  five  churches." 
Nor  is  it  less  interesting,  in  these  eventful  times,  and 
notwithstanding  the  general  degeneracy  of  the  Greek 
church,  to  learn  that  the  present  bishop  of  Philadelphia 
accounts  "  the  Bible  the  only  foundation  of  all  religious 
belief;"  and  that  he  admits  that  "abuses  have  entered 
into  the  church,  which  former  ages  might  endure ;  but 
the  present  must  put  them  down."  It  may  well  be 
added,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Hartley,*  "  the  circumstance  that 
Philadelphia  is  now  called  Allah-Shehr,  the  city  of  God, 
when  viewed  in  connection  with  the  promises  made  to 
that  church,  and  especially  with  that  of  writing  the 
name  of  the  city  of  God  upon  its  faithful  members,  is,  to 
say  the  least,  a  singular  concurrence."  From  the  pre- 
vailing iniquities  of  men  many  a  sign  has  been  given 
how  terrible  are  the  judgments  of  God.  But  from  the 
fidelity  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia  of  old  in  keeping 
his  word,  a  name  and  memorial  of  his  faithfulness  have 
been  left  on  earth,  while  the  higher  glories,  promised  to 
those  that  overcame,  shall  be  ratified  in  heaven  ;  and 
towards  them,  but  not  them  only,  shall  the  glorified 
Redeemer  confirm  the  truth  of  his  blessed  words, 
"  Him  that  overcometh  will  I  make  a  pillar  in  the  tem- 
ple of  my  God ;"  even  as  assuredly  as  Philadelphia, 
when  all  else  fell  around  it,  "  stood  erect,"  our  enemies 
themselves  being  judges,  "  a  column  in  a  scene  of  ruins." 
"And  unto  the  angel  of  the  Church  of  the  Laodi- 
CEANs  write.  These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithfiil 
and  true  witness,  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God  ; 
I  know  thy  works,  that  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot :  I 
would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot.  So  then  because  thou  art 
lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out 
of  my  mouth.  Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich  and  in- 
creased with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing ;  and 
>  Missionary  Register,  June,  1827. 


THE   SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF  ASIA.  355 

knowest  not  thatihou  art  wretched,  and  miserable,  and 
poor,  and  blind,  and  naked ;  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of 
me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou  mayest  be  rich ;  and 
white  raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the 
shame  of  thy  nakedness  do  not  appear ;  and  anoint  thine 
eyes  with  eye-salve,  that  thou  mayest  see."^  All  the 
other  churches  were  found  worthy  of  some  commenda- 
tion ;  and  there  was  some  blessing  in  them  all.  The 
church  of  Ephesus  had  laboured  and  had  not  fainted, 
though  she  had  forsaken  her  first  love ;  and  the  threatened 
punishment,  except  she  repented,  was  the  removal  of  her 
candlestick  out  of  its  place.  A  faithless  and  wicked  few 
polluted  the  churches  of  Pergamos  and  Thyatira  by  their 
doctrines  or  by  their  lives  ;  but  the  body  was  sound,  and 
the  churches  had  a  portion  in  Christ.  Even  in  Sardis, 
though  it  was  dead,  there  was  life  in  a  few,  who  had  not 
defiled  their  garments ;  "  and  they  shall  walk  with  me 
in  white,"  said  the  Lord,  "  for  they  are  worthy." 

But  in  what  the  Spirit  said  to  the  church  in  Laodicea, 
there  was  not  one  word  of  approval :  it  was  lukewarm, 
without  exception  ;  and  therefore  it  was  wholly  loathed. 
The  religion  of  Jesus  had  become  to  them  as  an  ordinary 
matter.  They  would  attend  to  it  just  as  they  did  to 
other  things,  which  they  loved  as  well.  The  sacrifice 
of  the  Son  of  God  upon  the  cross  was  nothing  thought 
of  more  than  a  common  gift  by  man.  They  were  not 
constrained  by  the  love  of  Christ  more  than  by  other 
feelings.  They  could  repeat  the  words  of  the  first  great 
commandment  of  the  law,  and  of  the  second,  which  is 
like  unto  it ;  but  they  showed  no  sign  that  the  one  or 
the  other  was  truly  a  law  to  them.  There  was  no  Dor- 
cas among  them,  who,  out  of  pure  Christian  love,  made 
clothes  for  the  poor.  There  was  no  Philemon  to  whom 
it  could  be  said,  "  The  church  in  thy  house,"  and  who 
could  look  on  a  Christian  servant  as  a  "  brother  be- 
loved." There  was  no  servant  who  looked  to  the  eye 
of  his  Father  in  heaven  more  than  to  that  of  his  master  on 
earth,  and  to  the  recompense  of  eternal  reward  more  than 
1  Rev.  iii.  14—18 


356  THE  SEVEN   CHURCHES  OF  ASIA. 

to  the  hireling  wages  of  a  day ;  and  who,  by  showing  all 
good  fidelity,  sought  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  his  Sa- 
viour in  all  things.  There  was  nothing  done  as  everything 
should  be,  heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men. 

They  neither  felt  nor  lived  as  if  they  knew  that  what- 
soever is  not  of  faith  is  sin.  ^Their  lukewarmness  was 
worse,  for  it  rendered  their  state  more  hopeless  than  if 
they  had  been  cold.  For  sooner  would  a  man  in  Sardis 
have  felt  that  the  chill  of  death  was  upon  him,  and  have 
cried  out  for  life,  and  called  to  the  physician,  than  would 
a  man  of  Laodicea,  who  could  calmly  count  his  even 
pulse,  and  think  his  life  secure,  while  death  was  preying 
on  his  vitals.  The  character  of  lukewarm  Christians, 
a  self-contradicting  name,  is  the  same  in  every  age. 
Such  was  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans. — But  what  is 
that  city  now,  or  how  is  it  changed  from  what  it  was ! 

Laodicea  was  the  metropolis  of  the  Greater  Phrygia ; 
and,  as  heathen  writers  attest,  it  was  an  extensive  and 
very  celebrated  city.  Instead  of  then  verging  to  its  de- 
cline, it  arose  to  its  eminence  only  about  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era.  "  It  was  the  mother-church  of  six- 
teen bishoprics."  Its  three  theatres,  and  the  immense 
circus,  which  was  capable  of  containing  upwards  of  thirty 
thousand  spectators,  the  remains  of  which  (with  other 
ruins  buried  under  ruins)  are  yet  to  be  seen,  give  proof 
of  the  greatness  of  its  ancient  wealth  and  population,  and 
indicate  too  strongly,  that  in  the  city  where  Christians 
were  rebuked,  without  exception,  for  their  lukewarm- 
ness, there  were  multitudes  who  were  lovers  of  pleasure 
more  than  lovers  of  God.  The  amphitheatre  was  built 
after  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  and  the  warning  of  the 
Spirit  had  been  given  to  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans 
to  be  zealous  and  repent ;  but  whatever  they  there  may 
have  heard  or  beheld,  their  hearts  would  neither  have 
been  quickened  to  a  renewed  zeal  for  the  service  and 
glory  of  God,  nor  turned  to  a  deeper  sorrow  for  sin,  and 
to  a  repentance  not  to  be  repented  of.  But  the  fate  of 
Laodicea,  though  opposite,  has  been  no  less  marked  than 
that  of  Philadelphia.     There  are  no  sights  of  grandeur, 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES   OF  ASIA.  357 

nor  scenes  of  temptation  around  it  now.  Its  own  tragedy 
may  be  briefly  told.  It  was  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold 
no"  hot,  and  therefore  it  was  loathsome  in  the  sight  of 
God.  It  was  loved,  and  rebuked,  and  chastened  in  vain. 
And  it  has  been  blotted  from  the  world.  It  is  now  as 
desolate  as  its  inhabitants  were  destitute  of  the  fear  and 
the  love  of  God,  and  as  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans 
was  devoid  of  true  faith  in  the  Saviour,  and  zeal  in  his 
service.  It  is,  as  described  in  his  Travels  by  Dr. 
Smith,  "  utterly  desolated,  and  without  any  inhabitant, 
except  wolves,  and  jackals,  and  foxes. "^  It  can  boast 
of  no  human  inhabitants,  except  occasionally  when  wan- 
dering Turkomans  pitch  their  tents  in  its  spacious  amphi- 
theatre. The  "  finest  sculptured  fragments"  are  to  be 
seen  at  a  considerable  depth,  in  excavations  which  have 
been  made  among  the  ruins.^  And  Colonel  Leake  ob- 
serves,^ "  there  are  few  ancient  cities  more  likely  than 
Laodicea  to  preserve  many  curious  remains  of  antiquity 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  soil ;  its  opulence,  and  the 
earthquakes  to  which  it  was  subject,  rendering  it  pro- 
bable that  valuable  works  of  art  were  often  there  buried 
beneath  the  ruins  of  the  public  and  priv^ite  edifices."  A 
fearful  significancy  is  thus  given  to  the  terrific  denuncia- 
ation,  "Because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold 
nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  my  mouth." 

"  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches."  The  Spirit  searcheth  all  things, 
yea,  the  deep  things  of  God.  Each  church,  and  each 
individual  therein  was  weighed  in  the  balance  of  the 
sanctuary  according  to  their  works.  Each  was  approved 
of  according  to  its  character,  or  rebuked  and  warned 
according  to  its  deeds.  Was  the  church  itself  pure,  the 
diseased  members  alone  were  to  be  cut  off.  Was  the 
church  itself  dead,  yet  the  few  names,  in  which  there 
was  life,  were  all  written  before  God,  and  not  one  of 
those  who  overcame  would  be  blotted  out  of  the  book 

1  See  Smith's  Survey  of  the  Seven  Churches  in  Calmet's  Diet.  • 
Fragments,  328 ;  Bishop  Newton,  &c. 

2  Arundel's  Travels,  p.  85.  3  Journal,  p.  252. 


358  THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES  OF   ASIA. 

of  life.  All  the  seven  churches  were  severally  exhortet. 
by  the  Spirit  according  to  their  need.  The  faith  deli- 
vered to  the  saints  was  preached  unto  them  all ;  and  all, 
as  Christian  churches,  possessed  the  means  of  salvation. 
The  Son  of  man  walked  in  the  midst  of  them,  beholding 
those  who  were,  and  those  who* were  not  his. 

By  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  by  the  w^ritten 
word,  every  man  in  each  of  the  churches  was  warned, 
and  every  man  was  taught  in  all  wisdom,  that  every  man 
might  be  presented  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  in  what 
the  Spirit  said  unto  each  and  all  of  the  churches,  which 
he  that  hath  ears  to  hear  was  commanded  to  hear,  the 
promise  of  everlasting  blessedness,  under  a  variety  of 
the  most  glorious  representations,  was  given  without  ex- 
ception, restriction,  or  reservation  to  him  that  over- 
cometh.  The  language  of  love,  as  well  as  of  remon- 
strance and  rebuke,  was  urged  even  on  the  lukewarm 
Laodiceans.  And  if  any  Christian  fell,  it  was  from  his 
own  resisting  and  quenching  the  Spirit ;  from  his 
choosing  other  lords  than  Jesus  to  have  dominion  over 
him ;  from  his  lukewarmness,  deadness,  and  virtual  de- 
nial of  the  faith^  and  from  his  own  wdlful  rejection  of 
freely  offered  and  dearly  purchased  grace ;  sufficient,  if 
sought  and  cherished,  and  zealously  used,  to  have  ena- 
bled him  to  overcome  and  triumph  in  that  warfare  against 
spiritual  wickedness  to  which  Christ  hath  called  his  dis- 
ciples ;  and  in  which,  as  the  finisher  of  their  faith,  he  is 
able  to  make  the  Christian  more  than  conqueror. 

But  if  such,  as  the  Spirit  described  them  and  knew 
them  to  be,  were  the  churches  and  Christians  then,  what 
are  the  churches,  and  what  are  Christians  now?  Or, 
rather,  we  would  ask  of  the  reader,  what  is  your  own 
hope  toward  God,  and  what  the  work  of  your  faith  ?  If,- 
while  Christianity  was  in  its  prime,  and  when  its  divine 
truths  had  scarcely  ceased  to  reach  the  ears  of  believers 
from  the  lips  of  Apostles,  on  whose  heads  the  Spirit  had 
visibly  descended,  and  cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  fire,  had 
sat;  if,  even  at  that  time,  one  of  the  seven  churches  of 
Asia  had  already  departed  from  its  first  love;  if  two 


THE   SEVEN  CHURCHES  OF   ASIA.  359 

others  were  partially  polluted  by  the  errors  in  doctrine, 
and  evils  in  the  practice,  of  some  of  their  members  ;  if 
another  had  only  a  few  names  that  were  worthy,  and  yet 
another  none;  and  if  they  who  formed  the  last  and 
worst  of  these,  thought  themselves  rich  and  increased 
with  goods,  and  that  they  had  need  of  nothing ;  and 
knew  not,  that,  being  lukewarm,  they  were  wretched,  and 
miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked ;  have  you  an 
ear  to  hear  or  a  heart  to  understand  such  knowledge  ? 
and  do  you,  professing  yourself  a  Christian,  as  they  also 
did,  see  no  cause  or  warning  here  to  question  and  ex- 
amine yourself — even  as  the  same  Spirit  would  search 
and  try  you — of  your  works,  and  charity,  and  service,  and 
faith,  and  patience,  and  your  works,  and  the  last  more 
than  the  first  ? 

What  is  your  labour  of  love,  or  wherein  do  you  labour 
at  all  for  his  name's  sake,  by  whose  name  you  are  called  ? 
What  trials  does  your  faith  patiently  endure,  what  temp- 
tations does  it  triumphantly  overcome  ?  Is  Christ  in  you 
the  hope  of  glory,  and  is  your  heart  purified  through  that 
blessed  hope  ?  To  a  church,  we  trust,  you  belong :  but 
whose  is  the  kingdom  within  you  ?  What  principles  ever 
actuate  you  which  Christ  and  his  Apostles  taught  ? 
W^here,  in  your  affections  and  life,  are  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit — love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  good- 
ness, faith,  meekness,  temperance  ?  Turn  the  precepts 
of  the  gospel  into  questions,  and  ask  thus  what  the  Spi- 
rit would  say  unto  you,  as  he  said  unto  the  churches  ?    . 

What  the  Spirit  said  unto  primitive  and  apostolic 
churches,  over  which  "  the  beloved  disciple"  personally 
presided,  may  suffice  to  prove  that  none  who  have  left 
their  first  love,  if  ever  they  have  truly  felt  the  love  of 
Jesus — that  none  who  are  guilty  of  seducing  others  into 
sin  and  uncleanness — that  none  who  have  a  name  that 
they  live  and  are  dead — and  that  none  who  are  lukewarm, 
are  w^orthy  members- of  any  Christian  communion  ;  and 
that,  while  such  they  continue,  no  Christian  communion 
can  be  profitable  to  thqin.  But  unto  them  is  "  space  to 
repent"  given.     And  to  them  the  word  and  Spirit  speak 


360  THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES  OF   ASIA. 

in  entreaties,  encouragements,  exhortations,  and  warn- 
ings ;  that  they  may  turn  from  their  sins  to  the  Saviour, 
and  that  they  may  live  and  not  die.  But  were  there  one 
name  in  Sodom,  or  a  few  in  Sardis,  that  are  the  Lord's, 
h?  knows  and  names  them  every  one ;  and  precious  in 
his  sight  is  the  death  of  his  saints.  Some,  on  the  othei 
hand,  may  be  sunk  into  the  depths  of  Satan,  though  in 
outward  fellowship  with  a  church,  were  such  to  be  found, 
as  pure  as  once  was  that  of  Thyatira.  Whatever,  there- 
fore, the  profession  of  your  faith  may  be,  seek  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness ;  that  kingdom  which 
is  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  that  righteousness  which  is  through  faith  in  Christ, 
who  gave  himself  for  the  church,  that  he  might  sanctify 
and  cleanse  it.  And  whatever  dangers  may  then  encom- 
pass you  around,  fear  not — only  believe ;  all  things  are 
possible  to  him  that  believeth. 

It  was  by  keeping  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  not  de- 
nying his  faith,  by  hearing  what  the  Spirit  said,  that  the 
Church  of  Philadelphia  held  fast  what  they  had,  and  no 
man  took  their  crown,  though  situated  directly  between 
the  church  of  Laodicea,  which  was  lukewarm,  and 
Sardis,  which  was  dead.  And  dead  as  Sardis  was, 
the  Lord  had  a  few  names  in  it  which  had  not  defiled 
their  garments — Christians,  worthy  of  the  name,  who 
lived,  as  you  yourself  should  ever  live,  in  the  faith  of 
the  Lord  Jesus — dead  unto  sin,  and  alive  unto  righteous- 
ness :  while  all  around  them,  though  naming  the  name 
of  Jesus,  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  Try  your 
faith  by  its  fruits ;  judge  yourselves,  that  you  be  not 
judged  ;  examine  yourselves  whether  you  be  in  the  faith ; 
prove  your  own  selves ;  and,  with  the  whole  counsel  df 
God,  as  revealed  in  the  gospel,  open  to  your  view,  let 
the  rule  of  your  self-scrutiny  be  what  the  Spirit  said  unto 
the  churches. 

If  you  have  seen  any  wonderful  things  out  of  the  law 
of  the  Lord,  and  have  looked,  though  from  afar  off,  on 
the  judgments  of  God  that  haifc  come  upon  the  earth, 
lay  not  aside  the  thought  of  these  ihings  When  you  now 


THE   SEVEN   CHURCHES  OF   ASIA.  361 

lay  down  this  little  book.  Treat  them  not  as  if  they 
were  an  idle  tale,  or  as  if  you  yourself  were  not  to  be  a 
witness — and  more  than  a  witness — of  a  far  greater  judg- 
ment which  shall  be  brought  nigh  unto  you,  and  shall 
be  your  own. 

If,  in  traversing  some  of  the  plainest  paths  of  the  field 
of  prophecy,  you  have  been  led  by  a  way  which  you 
knew  not  of  before,  let  that  path  lead  you  to  the  w^ell 
of  living  waters,  which  springeth  up  into  everlasting  life 
to  every  one  that  thirsts  after  it  and  drinks.  Let  the  words 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  be  to  you  this 
well-spring  of  the  Christian  life.  Let  the  word  of  God 
enlighten  your  eyes,  and  it  will  also  rejoice  your  heart. 
Search  the  Scriptures;  in  them  are  no  lying  divinations; 
they  testify  of  Jesus,  and  in  them  you  will  find  eternal 
life.  Pray  for  the  teaching  and  the  aid  of  that  Spirit  by 
whose  inspiration  they  were  given.  And  above  all  Chris- 
tian virtues  that  may  bear  witness  of  your  faith,  put  on 
charity,  love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  the  warp  and 
woof  of  the  Christian's  new  vesture  without  a  seam ; 
which  is  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  the  end  of  the  command- 
ment, the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  the  bond  of  perfectness, 
and  a  better  gift,  and  a  more  excellent  way  than  speaking 
with  tongues,  or  interpreting  or  prophesying ;  and  with- 
out which  you  would  be  as  nothing,  though  you  under- 
stood all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge.  From  the  want 
of  this  the  earth  has  been  covered  with  ruins.  Let  it  be 
yours,  and  however  poor  may  be  your  earthly  portion,  it 
will  be  infinitely  more  profitable  to  you  than  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  world,  and  all  their  glory.  Prophecies  shall 
fail ;  tongues  shall  cease  ;  knowledge  shall  vanish  away ; 
the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned 
up  ;  but  charity  never  faileth. 

If  you  have  kept  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  have  not 
denied  his  name,  hold  that  fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no 
man  take  thy  crown.  But  if  heretofore  you  have  been 
lukewarm,  and  destitute  of  Christian  faith,  and  zeal, 
and  hope,  and  love,  it  would  be  vain,  in  closing  a 
chapter  on  such  a  subject,  to  leave  you  with  any  mortal 
31 


362  CONCLUSION. 

admonition  ;  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith,  and  harden  not 
your  heart  against  the  heavenly  counsel,  and  the  glorious 
encouragement  given  unto  you  by  that  Jesus,  of  whom 
all  the  prophets  bear  witness,  and  unto  whom  all  things 
are  now  committed  by  the  Father: — "  I  counsel  thee  to 
bily  of  me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou  may  est  be 
rich;  and  white  raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed, 
and  that  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  do  not  appear ;  and 
anoint  thine  eyes  with  eye-salve,  that  thou  mayest  see. 
As  many  as  I  love  I  rebuke  and  chasten ;  be  zealous, 
therefore,  and  repent.  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door, 
I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he 
with  me.  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit 
with  me  in  my  throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am 
set  down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne.  He  that  hath 
an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
churches." 


CONCLUSION. 


The  whole  of  the  preceding  brief  and  imperfect 
sketch  forms  little  else  than  an  enumeration  of  some  of 
the  more  striking  prophecies,  and  of  facts  which  demon- 
strate their  fulfilment ;  and  a  recapitulation  of  all  the 
particulars  would  be  an  unnecessary  repetition.  The 
numerous  obscure  prophecies,  w^hich  contain  much  and 
striking  evidence,  have  hitherto  been  omitted,  that  the 
charge  of  ambiguity,  too  generally  and  indiscriminately 
attached  to  them  all,  might  be  proved  to  be  unfounded. 
But,  having  seen,  in  hundreds  of  instances,  that  pro- 
phecies which  were  plainly  delivered,  have  been  as 
clearly  fulfilled,  comprehending  them  all  in  a  single  ar- 
gument, and  leaving  the  decision  to  the  enemies  of 
Christianity,  or  to  those  who  are  weak  in  the  faith,  and 
appeahng  to  their  reason  without  bespeaking  their  favour 


CONCLUSION.  363 

— may  it  not,  in  the  first  instance,  be  asked  if  it  be  an  easy 
task  which  is  assigned  them,  to  disprove  even  this  part 
of  the  POSITIVE  EVIDENCE  to  the  truth  of  the  rehgion  of 
Jesus  ?  If  they  have  ever  staggered  at  the  promises  or 
threatenings  of  the  Scriptures  because  of  unbeHef — dis- 
crediting all  revelation  from  on  high — can  they  not  here 
discern  supernatural  evidence  in  confirmation  of  super- 
natural truths  ?  May  not  sight  lead  them  to  faith  ?  Must 
they  not  concede  that  the  Christian  has  some  reason  for 
the  hope  that  is  in  him  ?  And  may  they  not,  at  the  very 
least,  be  led  from  thence  to  the  calm  and  unprejudiced 
investigation,  not  only  of  the  other  prophecies,  but  of  all 
the  evidence  which  Christianity  presents  ? 

It  cannot  be  alleged,  with  truth,  that  the  prophecies 
which  have  been  selected  are  ambiguous  ;  that  they  bear 
the  character  of  those  auguries  which  issued  from  the  cloud 
that  always  overhung  the  temple  of  Apollo,  or  of  those 
pretended  inspirations  which  emanated  from  the  cave  of 
Hera.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  they  were  all  pro- 
nounced hundreds  or  thousands  of  years  before  the 
events,  which  even  at  the  present  day  demonstrate  their 
fulfilment,  though  every  other  oracle  has  ceased  for  ages 
to  appeal  to  a  single  fact.  And  the  historical  and  geo- 
graphical facts,  which  were  so  clearly  foretold,  are,  in 
general,  of  so  wonderful  a  nature,  that  the  language  of 
prophecy,  though  expressive  of  literal  truth,  seems  at 
first  sight  to  be  hyperbolical;  and  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah,  in  particular,  have  been  charged  with  being 
"full  of  extravagant  metaphor;"'  the  more  extravagant 

»  Were  it  not  for  the  impiety  with  which  they  are  conjoined,  the 
remarks  of  Paine  on  the  prophecies  would,  to  those  who  have 
studied  them  at  all,  be  sufficiently  amusing.  He  characterizes  the 
book  of  Isaiah  as  "  one  continued  bombastical  rant,  full  of  extra- 
vagant metaphor,  without  application,  and  destitute  of  meaning." 
The  predictions  respecting  Babylon,  Moab,  &c.,  are  forsooth  com 
pared  "  to  the  story  of  the  Knight  of  the  Burning  Mountain,  the 
story  of  Cinderella,"  and  such  like.  Isaiah,  in  short,  "  was  a  lying 
prophet  and  impostor."  And  "  what  can  we  say,"  he  asks,  "  of 
these  prophets,  but  that  they  were  all  impostors  and  liars  1"  Such 
words  are  not  merely  harmless  ;  they  may  be  also  useful,  as  they 
show,  that  while  ev?ry  possible  corroboration  from  history,  fact. 


364  CONCLUSION. 

the  metaphor,  or  the  more  remarkable  the  predicted  fact, 
the  farther  are  the  prophecies  removed  from  all  possibi- 
lity of  their  having  been  the  words  of  human  invention. 

The  following  comprehensive  and  luminous  statement 
of  the  argument,  extracted  from  a  review  of  a  former 
edition  of  this  treatise,  is  here  so  apposite,  that  no  apo- 
logy need  be  offered  for  inserting  it  at  length. 

"  This  geographical  argument  (viz.  the  fulfilment  of 
those  prophecies  which  describe  the  future  fate  of  parti- 
cular nations,  and  the  future  aspect  of  their  countries) 
has  always  appeared  to  us  one  of  the  most  impregnable 
strongholds  of  Christian  prophecy ;  or  rather,  one  of  the 
most  resistless  and  wide-ranging  instruments  of  aggres- 
sive evidence.  There  is  no  obscurity  in  the  language 
of  the  prophet.  There  is  no  variety  of  opinion  with  re- 
gard to  the  object  in  his  view.  There  is  no  denying  of 
the  change  which  he  predicts.  There  is  no  challenging 
of  the  witnesses  who  prove  the  facts  of  the  case.  The 
former  glory  of  these  regions  and  kingdoms  is  recorded 
by  ancient  heathen  historians,  who  knew  nothing  of  the 
fall  foretold.  Their  present  state  is  described  by  recent 
and  often  infidel  travellers,  who  knew  often  as  little  of 
the  predictions  which  they  were  verifying  by  their  narra- 
tives. It  is  not  a  particular  event  which  has  passed 
away,  or  a  particular  character  who  has  perished,  for 
whose  era  we  must  search  in  the  wide  page  of  history, 
and  of  whose  description  we  may  find  so  many  resem- 
reason,  and  even  the  unconscious  testimony  of  infidels  them- 
selves, is  given  to  the  truth  of  the  prophecies,  nothing  can  be 
alleged  on  the  other  hand  but  what  in  the  sight  of  all  men  mani- 
festly is  "  bombastical  rant,  and  extravagant  metaphor,  without 
application,  and  destitute  of  meaning."  And  since  both  speak 
not  the  truth,  who  is  the  liar  ?  Isaiah  the  prophet,  or  Paine  the 
infidel  1  And  "  what  can  we  say"  of  this  staunch  asserter  of 
rights,  but  that  his  right  to  the  title  is  undisputed,  and  that  these 
very  words  of  his,  were  others  wanting,  must  in  every  "  age  of 
reason"  rivet  to  his  unblest  memory  the  foul  aspersions  he  so 
■^alsely  applied  1  Argument  in  such  a  case  would  be  an  idle 
waste  of  words.  But  while  it  would  be  an  act  of  mere  prodigality 
and  folly  to  cast  pearls  before  swine,  the  filth  which  they  have 
snorted  out  may  well  be  cast  into  their  own  kennel  again,  that 
they  and  their  kind  may  partake  of  what  pertains  to  them. 


CONCLUSION.  365 

blances  -ds  to  become  perplexed  in  our  application.  The 
places  and  the  people  are  named  by  the  prophet,  and  the 
state  in  which  they  now  exist  is  matter  of  actual  observa- 
tion. The  fulfilment  of  the  prediction  is  thus  inscribed 
as  upon  a  public  monument,  which  every  man  who  visits 
the  countries  in  question  may  behold  with  his  own  eyes ; 
and  is  expressed  in  a  language  so  universally  intelligible, 
that  every  man  may  be  said  to  read  it  in  his  own  tongue. 
To  these  scenes  of  Scripture  prophecy  we  may  point  with 
triumph  as  to  ocular  demonstration;  and  say  to  the  skep- 
tical inquirer,  in  the  words  of  the  evangelist,  '  Come  and 
see.'  The  multitude  of  travellers  who  have  recently 
visited  the  Holy  Land  and  the  adjacent  regions,  have 
famished  ample  and  authentic  materials  for  the  construc- 
tion of  so  irrefragable  an  argument.  Many  of  these  tra- 
vellers have  discovered  no  intention  of  advocating  by 
their  statements  the  cause  of  revealed  truth ;  and  some 
of  them  have  been  obviously  influenced  by  hostility  to 
its  claims.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  prejudices,  and  alto- 
gether unconsciously  on  their  part,  they  have  recorded 
the  most  express  confirmation  of  the  Scripture  prophe- 
cies, frequently  employing  in  their  descriptions  the  very 
language  of  inspiration,  and  bringing  into  view  (though 
evidently  without  design)  those  features  of  the  scene 
which  form  the  precise  picture  painted  in  the  visions  of 
the  prophet." 

Willingly  might  the  Christian  here  rest  his  assurance 
"  in  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  and  leave  to 
the  unbeliever  his  hopeless  creed.  But  the  reasonings 
of  one  class  of  infidels  must  be  combined  with  the  re- 
searches of  another,  to  give  full  force  to  the  Evidence  of 
prophecy:  and  they  jointly  supply  both  the  clearest  facts 
and  the  strongest  arguments,  and  have  made  ready  the 
means  which  need  only  to  be  applied  for  bringing  the 
controversy  with  them,  in  its  various  bearings,  and  in 
their  own  words,  to  a  short  issue. 

The  metaphysical   speculations  of  Hume,^  and   the 

'  It  may  not  be  here  amiss  to  allude  to  that  kind  and  courteous 
admonition  to  Christian  writers,  so  meekly  given,  and  with  wis- 
31* 


366  CONCLUSION. 

mathematical  demonstrations  of  Laplace,  which  have 
been  directed  against  the  credibility  of  the  miracles,  rest 
entirely  on  the  ''^Theory  of  Probability.^'*  Assuming  its 
logical  and  legitimate  application  to  the  testimony  of  any 

dom  rivalling  its  modesty,  by  this  great  master  of  ideal  philoso- 
phy, in  which,  in  order  perhaps  to  bring  their  arguments  to  cope 
the  better  with  his  own,  he  prescribes  to  them,  as  best  suited  to 
their  cause,  the  total  rejection  of  reason !  After  quoting  a  passage 
from  Lord  Bacon's  Works,  which  has  a  very  different  application, 
he  adds, — This  method  of  reasoning  (about  monsters,  magic,  and 
alchemy,  &c.)  may  serve  to  confound  those  dangerous  friends  or  dis- 
guised enemies  of  the  Christian  religion,  who  have  undertaken  to  defend 
it  by  the  principles  of  human  reason  (of  whom,  by  the  by.  Lord  Bacon 
was  one,  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton  another).  Our  most  holy  religion 
is  founded  on  faith,  not  on  reason  ;  and  it  is  a  sure  method  of  exposing 
it  to  put  it  to  such  a  trial  as  it  is  by  no  means  fitted  to  endure.  (Hume's 
Essays,  §  10,  vol.  ii.  pp.  136-7,  edit.  Edinb.  1800.)  If  these 
words  may  not  justly  be  retorted  against  the  "unbeliever's  creed," 
excluding  the  epithet  of  holy;  or  if  Mr.  David  Hume  was  better 
acquainted  with  the  principles  of  the  Christian  Religion  than  the 
Author  of  it,  who  appealed  to  the  reason  of  men,  and  asked  them 
why  they  did  not  of  themselves  judge  that  which  was  right,  and 
than  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  who  enjoin  Christians  to  try  all 
things,  and  to  hold  fast  that  which  is  good,  and  to  be  able  to  give 
an  answer  to  every  one  that  asketh  them  a  reason  of  the  hope  that 
is  in  them;  then  the  writer  of  this  treatise,  having  only  the  hard 
alternative  of  being  either  "a  dangerous  friend  or  a  disguised 
enemy  of  the  Christian  religion,"  would,  with  whatever  reluctance, 
prefer  the  former,  and  has  to  lament  the  evil  he  has  done,  and  the 
"  sure  method"  he  has  taken  "of  exposing  it."  And  although  he 
may  hope  that  Christians  in  their  charity  will  forgive  him,  he 
must  yet  leave  to  unbelievers  the  comfort  and  the  joy  of  the 
triumph  which,  in  the  exercise  of  that  reason  which  they  have 
monopolized,  these  pages  must  necessarily  give  them.  Or  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  in  somewhat  stricter  accordance  with  the  truths 
of  Scripture,  the  author  of  the  Essay  on  Human  Nature  supplies, 
by  the  prefixed  words,  as  clear  practical  proof,  in  his  "  Academi- 
cal Philosophy,"  or  Skepticism  in  Theory,  that  it  is  one  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  heart  of  man  to  be  deceitful  above  all  things,  as 
mere  worldly  wisdom  and  infidelity  in  practice  too  frequently  de- 
monstrate that  it  is  also  desperately  vncked:  and  if  Scripture  pro- 
phecy can  "endure  the  trial  of  reason,"  and  its  evidence  be  re- 
jected; then  the  disciples  of  Hume,  the  traducers  of  the  Christian 
religion  as  not  founded  on  reason,  holding  to  "human  nature"  as 
of  itself  it  is,  and  deriding  the  idea  of  its  proffered  ransom  frona 
the  guilt  and  rescue  from  the  power  of  sin,  have  need,  without 
exhausting  their  reason  in  abstract  speculations,  to  look  to  their 


CONCLUSION.  367 

supernatural  evidence  of  a  divine  revelation,  it  is  argued 
that  the  improbabilities  of  the  occurrence  of  miracles, 
being  contradictory  to  uniform  experience,  are  so  ex- 
treme as  to  destroy  entirely  the  validity  of  any  testimony 
to  their  truth  which  has  been  transmitted  through  so 
many  ages.  "  And  upon  the  whole,  we  may  conclude," 
says  Hume,  "  that  the  Christian  religion,  even  at  this 
day,  cannot  be  believed  by  any  reasonable  person,  with- 
out a  miracle."  What  then  is  the  evidence,  that,  even 
at  this  day,  there  are  subsisting  miracles  which  must 
command  the  belief  of  every  person  to  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  religion,  who  is  not  so  utterly  unreasonable, 
and  his  mind  so  steeled  against  conviction,  as  not  to  be 
persuaded  even  by  miraculous  demonstration  ?  And  in 
what  better  or  less  exceptionable  "  method"  can  this 
evidence  be  meted  out  than  according  to  the  very 
^'  measure  of  probability"  in  use  with  unbelievers  ;  and 
by  means  of  which  they  profess  to  have  discovered  the 
deficiency  of  testimony  to  the  truth  of  ancient  miracles  ? 

Archimedes  demanded  only  a  spot  whereon  to.  stand 
that  he  might  move  the  world.  If  the  most  reasonable 
concession  from  the  infidel  be  not  as  impossible  to  be 
obtained  as  the  demand  of  Archimedes ;  and  if  he  will 
admit  either  the  truth  of  his  own  principles,  or  the  force 
of  mathematical  proof,  or  if  his  prejudices  be  not  im- 
movable as  a  world,  the  existing  and  obvious  fulfilment 
of  a  multiplicity  of  prophecies  might  well  excite  his 
attention,  and  convince  him  of  the  truth. 

The  doctrine  of  chances^  or  calculation  of  probabilities, 
has  been  reduced  into  a  science,  and  is  now  in  various 
ways  of  great  practical  use,  and  securely  acted  upon  in 
the  aflfairs  of  life.  But  it  is  altogether  impossible  that 
short-sighted  man  could  select,  from  the  infinite  multitude 
of  the  possible  contingencies  of  distant  ages,  any  one  of 

own  harder  alternative,  and  (if  both  be  not  possibly  conjoined) 
to  choose  between  the  incomparable  deceitfulness  and  desperate 
wickedness  of  the  heart  within, — evils  greater  far  than  all  that 
the  Christian  can  ever  fear  for  himself  from  all  the  sneers  of  the 
sophist,  or  the  railings  of  the  ungodly. 


368  CONCLUSION. 

such  particular  facts  as  abound  in  the  prophecies ;  and 
it  is  manifest  that,  upon  the  principle  of  probabilities, 
the  chance  would  be  incalculable  against  the  success  of 
the  attempt,  even  in  a  single  instance.  Each  accom- 
plished prediction  is  a  miracle.  But  the  advocate  foi 
Christianity  may  safely  concede'-much,  and  reduce  his 
data  to  the  lowest  terms.  And  if  the  unbeliever  reckon 
not  his  own  cause  utterly  hopeless,  and  "  by  no  means 
fitted  to  endure  the  trial  of  reason,"  he  must  grant  that 
there  was  as  great  a  probability  that  each  prediction 
would  not^  as  that  it  would,  have  been  fulfilled  ;  or  that 
the  probabilities  were  equal  for  and  against  the  occur- 
rence of  each  predicted  event.  The  Christian  may  fear- 
lessly descend  to  meet  him  on  this  very  lowly  ground. 
And  without  enumerating  all  the  particulars  included  in 
the  volume  of  prophecy  respecting  the  life  and  character 
and  death  of  Christ ;  the  nature  and  extent  of  Christi- 
anity, &c. ;  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  fate  of  the 
Jews  in  every  age  and  nation ;  the  existing  state  of  Ju- 
dea,  of  Ammon,  Moab,  Edom,  Philistia,  Babylon,  Tyre, 
Egypt,  the  Arabs,  &c.  ;  the  church  of  Rome,  and  the 
prophetic  history  which  extends  throughout  two  thousand 
three  hundred  years;  may  it  not  be  assumed  (though 
fewer  would  suflBce,  and  though  incontestable  evidence 
has  been  adduced  to  .prove  more  than  double  the  num- 
ber) that  a  hundred  different  particulars  have  been  fore- 
told and  fulfilled  ?  What,  then,  even  upon  these  data, 
is  the  chance,  on  a  calculation  of  probabilities,  that  all 
of  them  would  have  proved  true — the  chance  diminish- 
ing one-half  for  every  number ;  or  what,  in  other  words, 
is  the  hundredth  power  of  two  to  unity  ?*  Such  is  the 
desperate  hazard  to  which  the  unbeliever  would  trust, 
that  even  from  these  premises,  it  is  mathematically  de- 
monstrable that  the  number  of  chances  is  far  greater 
against  him  than  the  number  of  drops  in  the  ocean, 
although  the  whole  world  were  one  globe  of  water.    Let 

'  Essai  Philosophique  surlesProbabilites,parM.  leComteLaplace. 
Emerson  on  Chances,  prop.3.  Hutton's  edit.of  Ozanam's  Math.  Recr. 
vol.  i.    See  Gregory's  Letters  on  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  124. 


CONCLUSION.  369 

the  chance  at  least  be  counted  before  it  be  confided  in. 
But  who  would  risk  a  single  mite  against  the  utmost 
possible  gain  at  the  stake  on  which  unbelievers  here 
1  recklessly  put  to  certain  peril  the  interests  of  eternity? 
'  But  each  prediction  recorded  in  Scripture,  being  a 
miracle  of  knowledge,  is  equal  to  any  miracle  of  power, 
and  could  have  emanated  only  from  the  Deity.  "  All 
prophecies  are  real  miracles,  and  as  such  only  can  be 
admitted  as  proof  of  any  revelation."^  They  may  even 
be  said  to  be  peculiarly  adapted,  in  the  present  age  of 
extended  knowledge  and  enhghtened  inquiry,  for  being 
"  the  testimony  of  Jesus ;"  and  they  cannot  justly  be 
viewed  as  of  inferior  importance  or  authority  to  any  mi- 
racles whatever. 

Though  the  founder  of  a  new  religion,  or  the  messen- 
ger of  a  divine  revelation,  and  his  immediate  followers, 
who  had  to  promulgate  his  doctrine,  would  give  clear 
and  unequivocal  proof,  by  working  miracles,  that  their 
commission  was  from  on  high ;  yet,  the  relation  between 
any  miraculous  event,  wrought  in  after-ages,  and  a  reli- 
gion previously  established,  might  not  be  so  apparent. 
Or,  even  if  it  were,  yet  any  single  and  transient  act  of 
superhuman  power  being  confined  to  a  particular  re- 
gion, and  cognisable  only  by  a  limited  number,  the  testi- 
mony of  these  witnesses  would  be  regarded  only  as 
secondary  evidence,  and  could  not,  at  least  in  a  Christian 

1  Hume's  Essays,  vol.  ii.  p.  137.  This  statement  of  Hume's, 
combined  with  the  manifest  truth  of  prophecy,  shows  how  all  his 
theory  against  the  truth  of  miracles  may  easily  be  overthrown  by 
an  admission  of  his  own.  Prophecy  being  true,  and  uniformly 
true,  all  prophecies  being  real  miracles,  miracles  are  not  contrary 
to  universal,  or,  even  in  a  restricted  sense,  to  uniform  experience. 
They  "  are  rendered  probable  by  so  many  analogies,"  (Ibid.  p.  134,) 
that  on  sufficient  testimony  they  become  provable,  even  upon 
Hume's  own  principles,  especially  when  the  inspiration  of  those 
very  Scriptures,  which  record  the  disputed  miracles,  is  verified  by 
other  miracles,  the  truth  of  which  is  established  and  experienced. 
And  thus  the  boldest  dogmas  of  skepticism  may  not  only  be 
braved,  but  reversed ;  and  it  is  more  wonderful  that  the  testimony 
sealed  in  blood  and  rendered  credible  by  miracles  .equally  great, 
should  be  false,  than  that  the  miracles  should  he  true. 


370  CONCLUSION. 

land,  be  substantiated  by  proof  so  complete  as  that  which 
was  sealed  by  the  blood  of  martyrs.  And  even  if  per- 
petual maniJjgstations  of  miraculous  power  (however  much 
men  in  apparent  vindication  of  their  unbelief  may  un- 
reasonably ask  such  proof)  were  submitted  to  the  inspec- 
tion and  experience  of  each  inthvidual  in  every  age. 
they  would  only  seem  to  distort  the  order  and  frame  of 
nature,  and  by  thus  disturbing  the  regularity  and  uniform- 
ity of  her  operations,  would,  from  their  very  frequency, 
cease  to  be  regarded  as  supernatural ;  and,  influenced  by 
the  same  skeptical  thoughts,  those  who  now  demand  a 
sign  would  then  be  the  first  to  discredit  it.  And  true  to 
reason  and  to  nature  it  is,  that  those  who  will  not  believe 
Moses  and  the  prophets  would  not  be  persuaded,  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead.  For  the  prophecies  bear  a  direct 
reference  to  religion  that  is  easily  comprehended,  and  that 
cannot  be  misapplied.  They  have  a  natural  and  obvious 
meaning  that  may  be  known  and  read  of  all  men.  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord"  is  their  prefix:  this  is  the  fact,  is  their 
proof.  Instead  of  being  weakened  by  the  greatness  of 
their  number,  the  more  they  are  multiplied,  or  the  more 
frequently  that  facts  formerly  unknown,  or  events  yet 
future,  spring  up  in  their  verification,  their  evidence  is 
redoubled,  and  they  are  ever  permanent  and  existing 
witnesses  that  the  word  is  of  God.  And,  farther,  the  tes- 
timony which  in  every  passing  age  confirms  their  truth, 
cannot  be  cavilled  at ;  it  is  "  not  diluted  by  transmission 
through  many  ages ;"  it  is  borne,  not  to  events  in  them- 
selves miraculous,  but  to  natural  facts,  whether  historical 
or  geographical,  which  have  been  proved  by  conclusive 
evidence,  and  which  in  numerous  instances  still  subsist 
to  stand  the  test  of  any  inquiry.  And  even  many  of  the 
facts  (such  as  the  marvellous  fate  of  the  expatriated  Jews) 
are  witnessed  by  all,  and  need  no  testimony  whatever  to 
declare  them.  And  the  records  of  the  prophecies,  pre- 
served throughout  every  age,  by  the  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity, are  in  every  hand.  If,  then,  no  evidence  less 
exceptionable,  more  conclusive,  or  mQ,re  clearly  miracu- 
lous could  be  given,  the  disciples  of  Hume,  in  resigning 


CONCLUSION.  371 

an  "  academic"  for  a  Christian  faith,  have  only  to  apply 
aright  the  words  of  their  master—"  a  wise  man  propor- 
tions his  belief  to  the  evidence  ;"^  and  they  may  thus 
find — what  he  in  vain  thought  that  he  had  discovered — 
an  "  everlasting  check"  against  "  delusion."^ 

It  was  the  boast  of  Bolingbroke,  in  summing  up  his 
"philosophical"  labours,  that  "he  had  pushed  inquiry 
as  far  as  the  true  means  of  inquiry  are  open,  that  is,  as 
far  as  phenomena  could  guide  him."  Christian  philo- 
sophy asks  no  more.  It  lays  open  the  "  means  of 
inquiry,"  and  presents,  in  the  fulfilment  of  many  pro- 
phecies, "  phenomena"  more  wonderful  than  external 
nature  ever  exhibited,  and  demands  only  integrity  of 
purpose,  and  that  "  inquiry  be  pushed  unto  the  utter- 
most," that  candour  and  reason  may  thus  guide  the  im- 
partial inquirer,  by  the  light  of  positive  evidence  and 
miraculous  proof,  to  the  conviction  and  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  argument  drawn  by  Volney  from  "  The  Ruins  of 
Empires,"  is  completely  controverted  by  facts  stated  by 
himself,  which,  instead  of  militating  against  religion, 
directly  establish  the  truth  of  prophecy ; — and  the  un- 
substantial fabric  which  he  raised  needs  no  other  hand 
but  his  own  to  lay  it  in  the  dust. 

But  ridicule  alone  has  often  supplanted  reason,  and 
has  been  held  as  a  test  of  the  truth,  and  directed  espe- 
cially against  the  prophecies.  And  may  not  an  evidence 
of  their  inspiration  be  found  even  in  this  last  retreat  of 
infidelity  ?  The  ruins  of  the  moral  world  are  as  obvious 
in  the  sight  of  Omniscience  as  the  ruins  of  the  natural, 
of  cities  or  of  kingdoms  :  and  his  word  can  foretell  the 
one  as  well  as  the  other.  And  if  those  who  scoff  at 
religion  can  perceive  no  evidence  from  any  historical 
facts,  or  any  external  objects,  they  might  look  within, 
and  they  would  find  engraven  on  their  own  hearts,  in 
characters  sufficiently  legible,  a  confirmation  of  the  pro- 
phecies. And  if  they  substitute  railing  for  reason,  and 
think  to  mar  religion  with  their  mockery,  to  all  others 
»  Hume's  Essay  on  Miracles,  vol.  ii.  p.  117.  2  lb.  p.  116. 


372  CONCLUSION. 

they  stand  convicted,  the  living  witnesses  of  the  truth. 
"  There  shall  come  in  the  last  days  scoffers,  walking 
after  their  own  lusts,  and  saying,  where  is  the  promise 
of  his  coming  ?    for,  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all 

THINGS  CONTINUE   AS    THEY  WERE   FROM    THE    BEGINNING 

OF  THE  CREATION.  For  this  they  willingly  are  ignorant 
of,  that  by  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were  of  old, 
and  the  earth  standing  out  of  the  water  and  in  the  water : 
whereby  the  world,  that  then  was,  being  overflowed 
with  water,  perished."  "  There  shall  be  mockers  in  the 
last  tim^."* 

'  2  Pet.  iii.  3—6 ;  Jude  18. 

The  Christian  religion  has  thus  to  rank  among  its  enemies 
many  false  teachers  who  were  to  arise,  and  who,  as  characterized 
in  Scripture,  speak  evil  of  the  things  that  they  understand  not,  who  de- 
spise government,  who  are  presumptuous  and  self-willed,  who  speak  great 
swelling  words  of  vanity,  to  allure  others,  promising  them  liberty,  while 
they  themselves  are  the  children  of  corruption,  and  foaming  out  their 
shame.  (2  Peter,  chap.  ii.  verses  I,  10,  12,  18,  19.)  Blasphemy, 
obscenity,  and  unmeaning  abuse,  are  the  weapons  of  their  war- 
fare ;  they  seek  to  debase  religion  into  a  conformity  with  their 
gross  and  grovelling  imaginations ;  speaking  of  things  that  they 
know  not,  they  utter  great  swelling  words  of  vanity,  as  if,  by  a 
mere  glance  of  their  jaundiced  mental  vision,  they  could  compass 
at  once  the  whole  of  religious  truth.  But  their  arguments  are  as 
weak  as  their  principles  are  base.  And  so  manifestly  does  rea- 
son disclaim  them,  that  for  subverting  their  false  assumptions,  it 
is  only  necessary,  in  general,  to  make  the  contradiction  as  flat  as 
the  assertion  is  positive.  As  an  example,  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  in  a  list  of  aphorisms  which  lately  issued  from  the  London 
mart  of  infidelity,  the  most  specious  of  the  whole  was  thus  ex- 
pres.sed — "  All  other  religions  are  false,  and  therefore  the  Chris- 
tian religion  is  false  also ;"  or,  as  the  argument  may  be  more 
logically  stated,  all  other  religions  are  false,  and  therefore  the 
Christian  religion  is  true.  Yet  who  can  look  but  with  sorrow  for 
the  fate,  as  well  as  disgust  and  derision  at  the  efforts  of  such  piti- 
ful cavillers,  carping  at  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion — like 
unto  foul  and  small  fry  (the  less  dignified  the  more  befitting  is  the 
simile)  nibbling  at  some  weeds  that  have  been  cast  by  human 
nands  upon  a  rock,  and  pressing  with  all  their  little  strength  to 
move  it] 

But  there  is  another  and  a  different  class  of  unbelievers,  to 
whom  the  words  in  the  text  no  less  strikingly  apply ;  for  they 
may  be  brought  to  confute  the  subtlest  arguments  of  the  ingenious 
skeptic,  as  well  as  to  condemn  the  profane  mockery  of  the  mos* 
senseless   railler.    The   great  argument  of  infidelity,  urged  so 


CONCLUSION.  373 

But  if  unbelievers  lay  just  claim  to  wisdom,  and  make 
a  fair  appeal  to  reason,  then,  rather  than  place  their 
security  in  abstract  speculations,  and  tamper  thus  with 
the  immortal  hopes  of  their  fellow-men,  rather  than  trust 

strenuously  in  these  last  days,  against  the  credibility  of  miracles, 
from  the  inviolability  of  the  laws  of  nature,  could  not  be  more 
plainly  or  forcibly  stated  than  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  declar- 
ing what  that  argument,  the  result  of  modern  science,  would  be. 
If  it  had  not  been  urged,  a  part  of  Christian  evidence,  derived 
from  the  fulfilment  of  this  prediction,  would  still  have  been  want- 
ing, and  we  should  still  have  had  to  wait  for  the  last  argument  of 
infidelity,  from  whence  to  draw  a  new  illustration  of  the  truth. 
But  the  apostle  not  only  states,  he  also  confutes  what  scoffers  in 
the  last  days  would  say,  and  not  from  scriptural  authority,  un- 
availing with  them,  but  on  philosophical  principles,  or  from  facts 
of  which  they  are  willingly  ignorant — viz.  the  creation  of  the  world 
and  its  having  been  overflowed  by  water,  which  show  that  al 
things  are  not  as  they  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  creation. 
Hume,  Bentham,  and  Laplace,  must  yet  veil  their  heads,  in  the 
academy  as  well  as  in  the  temple,  before  the  humble  fishermen 
of  Galilee.  And  their  reasonings  need  only  to  be  rightly  applied, 
that  they  may  as  strongly  advocate  the  undoubted  evidence  which 
miracles  give,  that  the  doctrine  is  of  God,  as  the  facts  attested  by 
Gibbon  and  Volney  demonstrate  that  the  prophecies  of  Scripture 
were  given  by  inspiration  of  God.  But  such  a  subject  can  only 
be  touched  on  in  a  concluding  note  ;  and  abundant  is  the  evidence 
of  prophecy,  seeing  that  it  here  needs  only  to  be  thus  noticed.  The 
transference  of  the  leading  argument  of  infidelity, — which  a  text 
and  a  fact  may  suffice  to  transfer, — into  an  additional  and  funda- 
mental evidence  of  the  truth,  merits  a  full  consideration,  more 
recently  given  to  it  by  the  writer,  in  a  Demonstration  of  the  truth  of 
the  Christian  Religion. 

In  these  times  of  inquiry  and  discovery,  it  is  pleasing  to  ob- 
serve how  the  progress  of  science  becomes  ultimately  subservient 
to  the  cause  of  truth.  Philosophy  begins  to  confess  its  great 
error,  and  to  oflfer  some  expiation  to  religion.  And  in  the  short 
space  since  the  publication  of  the  sixth  edition  of  this  treatise, 
new  testimony  may  now  be  subjoined  to  the  preceding  note,  not 
less  important  towards  the  illustration  of  the  evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity, than  the  plates  of  Petra.  The  recent  origin  of  man  is  a  fact 
now  universally  admitted  by  geologists  ;  and  in  a  late  number  of 
the  Edinburgh  Review,  (Num.  civ.  p.  .396,)  it  is  said,  in  reference 
to  that  fact  alone,  that  "  it  seems  to  us  to  be  fatal  to  the  theory 
which  we  have  presumed  to  call  a  misconception  of  the  uniformity 
of  causation,  as  signifying  an  unalterable  sequence  of  causes  and 
effects" — or,  in  other  words,  that  it  is  a  demonstration  that  all 
things  have  not  continued  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  crea- 

32 


374  CONCLUSION. 

in  ridicule  as  the  test  of  religious  truth,  and  call  an 
assumed  and  yet  unpaid  license  to  blasphemy  by  the 
name  of  liberty  ;  does  it  not  behove  them  to  look  first  to 
the  positive  evidence  and  miraculous  proof  of  revelation, 
to  detect  its  fallacy  or  own  its  power,  and  to  quit  their 
frail  entrenchments,  if,  indeed,  tKey  find  that  the  stand- 
ard of  Christian  faith  may,  in  despite  of  all  their  efforts, 
be  fixed  upon  the  proudest  towers  of  infidelity?  Let 
them,  in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  bring  forth  their  wit- 
nesses, that  they  may  be  justified,  or  let  them  hear,  and 
say,  it  is  tnith. 

But,  in  conclusion,  it  may  in  reason  be  asked,  if  there 
be  not  something  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  Christir 
anity,  in  the  mind  of  that  man  who  will  not  hear  Moses 

turn.  "  Certain  strata  have  been  identified,"  contin\ies  the  Re- 
viewer, "  with  the  period  of  man's  first  appearance.  We  cannot 
do  better  than  quote  from  Dr.  Pritchard's  excellent  book.  Re- 
searches into  the  Physical  History  of  Mankind,  his  comment  and 
application  of  this  fact^  *It  is  well  known  that  all  the  strata  of 
which  our  continents  are  composed  were  once  a  part  of  the 
ocean's  bed.     There  is  no  land  m  existence  that  was  not  formed  beneath 

THE  SrRFACE  OF  THE  SEA,  Or  that  haS  NOT  niSEir  FROM  BENEATH  THE 

WAT  Ell.  Mankind  had  a  beginning,  since  we  can  now  look  back 
to  the  period  when  the  surface  on  which  they  lived  began  to  exist. 
We  have  only  to  go  back,  in  imagination,  to  that  age,  to  represent 
to  ourselves  that  there  existed  nothing  on  this  globe  but  unformed 
elements,  and  that  in  the  next  period  there  had  begun  to  breathe, 
and  move,  in  a  particular  spot,  a  human  creature,  and  we  shall 
already  have  admitted,  perhaps,  the  most  astonishing  miracle,  re- 
corded in  the  whole  compass  of  the  sacred  writings,'  "  &c.  Thus, 
in  a  better  and  more  philosophic  spirit,  resting  on  a.  fact,  of  which 
the  structure  of  the  earth  bears  witness,  and  not  on  an  unwar- 
rantable and  false  assumption,  men,  without  reference  to  the  pre- 
diction, have  at  last  discovered  the  very  argument  urged  by  the 
apostle  in  refutation  of  the  skeptical  saying  of  scofiers  in  the  last 
days.  The  heavens  were  of  old,  a7id  the  earth  standing  out  of  the  water 
and  in  the  water.  The  earth  at  first  was  without  form  and  void. 
And  since  the  beginning  of  the  creation  man  himself  was  created. 
An  u/nalterable  experience  has  not  therefore  to  be  set  up  against 
the  testimony  of  the  Christian  miracles  ;  for  there  is  experience 
of  the  truth  of,  "  perhaps,  the  most  astonishing  miracle  recorded 
in  the  whole  compass  of  the  sacred  writings."  The  arguments 
of  the  scoffers,  and  its  manifest  confutation,  are  alike  confirma- 
tions of  the  truth  of  prophecy,  itself,  too,  a  miracle. 


CONCLUSION.  375 

and  the  prophets,  and  who  is  slow  of  heart  to  believe  all 
that  they  have  spoken,  though  they  afforded  the  means 
of  detection  in  every  prediction  which  they  uttered,  if 
their  prophecies  had  been  false ;  though  they  appealed 
to  a  vast  variety  of  events  which  distant  ages  would 
bring  into  existence ;  though  history  has  answered,  and 
ocular  demonstration  has  confirmed  that  appeal,  our  ene- 
mies themselves  being  witnesses ;  and  although  there 
never  was  any  other  truth  that  could  be  tried  by  such  a 
test  ?  Might  he  not  be  convinced  of  a  doctrine  less 
moral,  or  not  quite  according  to  godliness,  by  evidence 
less  miraculous  ?  Is  there  no  reason  to  fear  that  the 
hght  of  evidence,  though  sufficient  to  dispel  the  cloud 
upon  the  understanding,  is  yet  unable  to  penetrate  "  the 
veil  upon  the  heart  ?"  Skepticism,  at  best,  is  not  a  sub- 
ject for  boasting.  It  is  easy  to  exclude  the  noon-tide 
light  by  closing  the  eyes  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  resist  the 
clearest  truth  by  hardening  the  heart  against  it.  And 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  minds  (and  New- 
ton's was  among  the  number)  which  are  differently 
affected  by  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  and  which  can- 
not be  callous,  when  touched  by  the  concentrated  rays 
of  such  light  from  heaven,  whence  can  this  great  dissi- 
milarity of  sentiment  arise  from  the  same  identical  and 
abundant  proof?  And  into  what  else  can  the  want  of 
conviction  be  resolved  than  into  the  Scriptural  solution 
of  the  difficulty — an  evil  heart  of  unbelief  ?  They  will 
not  come  unto  the  light,  because  the  light  would  make 
them  free. 

But  while  the  unbeliever  rejects  the  means  of  convic- 
tion, and  rests  his  hope  on  the  assumed  possibility  that 
his  tenets  may  be  true,  the  positive  evidence  of  Chris- 
tianity convinces  the  unprejudiced  inquirer,  or  rational 
and  sincere  believer,  that  it  is  impossible  that  his  faith  can 
be  false.  And  when  he  searches  out  of  the  book  of  the 
Lord,  and  finds  that  none  of  them  do  fail,  he  looks  on 
every  accomplished  prediction,  even  though  it  be  the 
effect  of  the  wrath  of  man,  as  a  witness  of  God ;  he 
knows  in  whom  he  beheves :  he  sees  the  rise  and  fall 


376  CONCLUSION. 

of  earthly  potentates,  and  the  convulsions  of  kingdoms, 
testifying  of  Him  who  ruleth  among  the  nations,  and 
accrediting  his  word ;  he  experiences  the  conviction  that 
the  most  delightful  of  all  truth,  the  hope  which  perisheth 
not,  is  confirmed  by  the  strongest  of  all  testimony,  that 
Heaven  itself  hath  ratified  the  peace  which  it  hath  pro- 
claimed ;  he  rests  assured  that  prophecy  came  not  of  old 
time  by  the  will  of  man,  but  that  holy  men  of  old  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and,  although 
he  knows  not  the  mode  of  the  operations  of  the  Spirit, 
he  sees  the  demonstration  of  his  power.  And  •"  taking 
heed  thus  unto  the  sure  word  of  prophecy,  until  the  day 
dawn  and  the  day-star  arise  in  his  heart,"  the  true  be- 
liever learns,  from  the  things  that  are  past,  the  certainty 
of  the  things  that  are  to  come  hereafter:  he  rests  not 
satisfied  with  a  mere  name  that  he  liveth,  while  yet  he 
might  be  dead ;  but  having  obtained  that  "  precious 
faith,"  the  germ  of  immortality,  which  springeth  up  into 
eternal  life,  he  experiences  the  power  of  the  world  to 
come,  and  unites  the  practice  with  the  profession  of  re- 
ligion ;  he  copies  the  zeal  of  those  who  spend  their 
strength  for  that  which  is  in  vain,  and  their  labour  for 
that  which  profiteth  not,  but  he  directs  it  to  the  attain- 
ment of  an  incorruptible  inheritance,  for  he  knows  that 
his  labour  shall  not  be  in  vain  while  he  yields  obedience 
to  that  Word  which  is  the  Charter  of  his  Salvation,  and 
which  so  unequivocally  bears  the  seal  and  superscription 
of  the  King  of  kings. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

CURSORY   REMARKS   ON    SOME    OF   THE   PROPHECIES    OF 
DANIEL. 

The  preceding  pages  are  so  far  from  exhausting  the  subject, 
or  presenting  a  complete  view  of  the  evidence  of  prophecy,  that 
they  only  occupy,  for  the  greater  part,  a  space  which  writers  on 
prophecy  have  very  sparingly  touched.  Prophecies  fulfilled  are 
the  miracles  of  every  age  of  the  church.  And  while  new  evi- 
dence of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  can  so  abundantly  be 
adduced  from  geographical  facts,  discovered  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era,  there  are  other  predictions  of  far  more 
momentous  import,  which  have  only  partially  met  their  comple- 
tion, and  which  the  future  fate  of  the  world  has  yet  more  fully  to 
unseal.  Much  has  been  written  on  the  more  obscure  prophecies, 
which  have  already  been  fulfilled.  And  different  writers  have 
speculated  freely  on  the  mode  in  which  the  predicted  events, 
according  to  their  interpretation,  are  to  be  brought  to  pass.  But 
"the  times  and  the  seasons  the  Father  hath  in  his  own  power." 
And,  without  entering  into  any  minute  exposition  or  detail,  the 
following  remarks  may  tend,  in  some  measure,  to  show  how  the 
obscurity  of  the  symbolical  prophecies,  which  refer  to  events 
already  past,  is,  in  some  instances  at  least,  greatly  overrated — 
how  the  objections  of  infidels  may  be  obviated,  and  their  very 
arguments  be  still  farther  adduced,  in  testimony  of  the  truth  of 
revelation,  and  how,  notwithstanding  the  obscurity  in  which  these 
prophecies  are  involved,  it  may  be  manifestly  discerned  in  them, 
that  He  who  ruleth  among  the  nations  has  revealed  his  word  to 
mortals,  and  that  each  vision  depicted  there,  is  the  glance  of  Om- 
niscience through  the  history  of  man. 

The  question  respecting  the  more  obscure  prophecies  which 

the  Christian  has  to  argue  with  the  unbeliever  is  not — whether 

the  same  events  might  not  have  been  foretold  in  a  more  distinct 

and  definite  manner  (for'the  predictions  themselves  are  declared 

32*  377 


378  SYMBOLICAL   PROPHECIES. 

to  be  sealed,  or  to  remain  obscure,  till  the  time  of  the  end,  or  the 
period  of  tlieir  completion ;  and  as  they  refer  to  the  political  state 
of  the  world,  or  to  the  successive  governments  that  were  to  arise, 
there  are  obvious  reasons  for  this  purposed  obscurity,  which  apply 
not  to  the  numerous  literal  predictions) — But  the  question  ?'«, 
whether,  such  as  they  are,  and  viewed  in  connection  with  other 
prophecies,  they  bear  not  a  closer  and  4ess  convertible  similitude 
to  the  events  of  which  they  were  avowedly  predictive,  than  human 
sagacity  could  have  discerned  or  invented. 

Although  the  divine  mind  be  perfect  in  wisdom,  yet  that  wis- 
dom is  unsearchable;  and  the  mode  of  communicating  any  super- 
human knowledge  must  not  only  be  regulated  by  the  nature  of 
the  ultimate  design  of  the  special  revelation,  but  be  adapted  also 
to  the  perception,  capacities,  and  habits  of  thought  of  the  human 
recipients.  In  the  symbolical  predictions  of  Daniel,  both  these 
ends  are  perfectly  attained.  The  first,  as  so  expressed,  required 
that  the  prophecy  should  be  sealed  for  many  days,  which  was 
therefore  conveyed  in  a  figurative  manner.  And  the  symbols 
themselves  are  such  as  were  adopted  in  the  practice,  and  familiar 
to  the  understanding  of  men;  and  when  viewed  in  conjunction 
with  the  explanation  given  by  the  prophet,  they  are,  after  the 
event,  abundantly  significant.  It  is  obvious  from  history,  as  well 
as  from  ancient  coins,  that  different  kingdoms  were  signified  or 
marked  by  diflferent  emblematical  representations.  And,  notwith- 
standing the  difi\ision  of  knowledge,  the  same  practice  is  conti- 
nued to  the  present  day.  Instead,  therefore,  of  their  being  sin- 
gular or  unintelligible,  the  very  method  of  representing  kingdoms 
is  used  in  these  prophetic  similitudes,  which  was  then,  and  still 
is,  common  in  the  world,  and  which  arose  perhaps  at  first  from 
necessity,  and  was  sanctioned  afterwards  by  use. 

Not  only  is  the  emblematical  representation  given,  but  the  sig- 
nificancy  of  the  emblems  is  also  explained.  And  in  relation  to 
the  same  events,  in  the  cases  about  to  be  noticed,  two  different 
images  or  figures  are  represented  to  view.  An  accordance  in 
each  particular  being  requisite  to  a  just  historical  interpretation 
of  the  prophecy,  there  is  thus  no  possibility  of  any  strained  accom- 
modation of  the  events  to  the  prediction  ;  and  that  interpretation, 
which  is  just  in  every  particular,  must  be  strictly  and  exclusively 
applicable.  And  such  interpretation  having  been  given,  instead 
of  their  being  now  chargeable  with  impenetrable  obscurity,  it  is 
not  perhaps  in  the  power  of  human  language  to  give  a  more 
unequivocal  and  less  ambiguous  symbolical  representation,  which 
designedly  was  to  be  understood  only  after  the  event,  of  the  rise 
of  successive  governments,  than  is  given  in  the  book  of  Daniel, 
by  two  different  figures,  accompanied  by  an  explanation  of  each. 

While  the  truth  of  the  predictions  of  Daniel  may  be  investi- 
gated in  the  present  day,  the  undoubted  certainty  of  his  inspira- 
•ion  was  accredited  at  the  time  in  a  manner  at  once  easy  to  be 


Nebuchadnezzar's  dream.  379 

understood,  and  impossible  to  be  controverted,  and  jiltogether 
unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  heathen  oracles. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  the  king  of  Babylon,  at  that  time  the  most 
potent  monarch  in  the  world,  had,  in  his  conquests  over  the  sur- 
rounding nations,  subjected  the  Jews  to  his  authority;  and, 
among  other  tokens  of  obeisance  which  he  demanded  of  the  king 
of  Judah,  he  required  that  certain  princes  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
high  in  character  and  skilful  in  wisdom,  should  be  sent  from  Je- 
rusalem, in  order  to  be  placed  in  his  household,  and  to  be  num- 
bered among  the  magicians  and  astrologers,  whom  he  was  wont 
to  consult,  and  who  formed  one  of  the  appendages  of  his  splendid 
court.  Daniel  was  one  of  them.  He  and  his  friends  of  the 
house  of  Judah  were  soon  "  preferred  far  beyond  all  the  wise  men 
that  were  in  all  the  realm."  But  in  the  court  of  a  despot  the 
highest  subject  is  a  slave.  And  it  soon  happened  that  their  lives 
were  in  the  greatest  peril,  from  which  no  human  prudence  could 
have  rescued  them.  It  was  the  business  of  every  courtier  to 
minister  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  king,  otherwise  their 
lives  were  in  danger  of  being  forfeited  at  once.  And  a  cause  of 
mental  disquietude  soon  arose  in  the  breast  of  the  king,  which 
his  magicians  were  commanded  to  remove.  His  mind  had  been 
disturbed  by  dreams,  "his  spirit  was  troubled,  and  his  sleep  brake 
from  him,"  and  he,  whose  will  would  brook  no  control,  called  his 
wise  men,  and  commanded  them  to  make  known  the  dream,  and 
the  interpretation  thereof.  This  was  a  test  which  all  their  pre- 
tensions could  not  abide,  and  a  difficulty  which  all  their  artifice 
could  not  elude.  They  asked  the  king  "  to  make  known  to  them 
the  dream,  and  they  would  show  him  the  interpretation."  In  the 
latter  respect,  they  might  easily  have  practised  on  the  credulity 
of  the  monarch,  and  put  his  mind  at  ease.  "  But  the  dream  had 
gone  from  him ;"  if  recalled  to  his  recollection,  he  would  at  once 
recognise  it;  and  those  who  pretended  in  other  matters  to  be 
astrologers,  and  magicians,  and  sorcerers,  and  who  could  not 
then  deceive  him,  were  commanded  to  tell  the  dream  itself,  and 
then  he  should  know  that  they  "could  also  show  him  the  inter- 
pretation." Compliance  with  a  demand  so  unreasonable  was 
impossible  for  man;  the  attempt  was  utterly  hopeless;  and 
"  they  answered  the  king  and  said.  There  is  not  a  man  upon  the 
earth  that  can  show  the  king's  matter ;  therefore  there  is  no  king, 
lord,  nor  ruler  that  asketh  such  things  at  any  magician,  or  astro- 
loger, or  Chaldean.  And  it  is  a  rare  thing  that  the  king  requireth ; 
and  there  is  none  other  that  can  show  it  before  the  king,  except 
the  gods,  whose  dwelling  is  not  with  flesh."  These  words  were 
true ;  though  they  may  have  been  inconsistent  with  the  preten- 
sions of  the  magicians,  when  they  were  not  so  severely  tried. 
But  when  the  passions  are  inflamed,  the  spirit  troubled,  or  pride 
wounded,  reason  and  truth  are  alike  disregarded ;  and  however 
unjustifiable  or  barbarous  the  deed,  none  could  gainsay  it:  and 


380  nebqchadnezzar's  dream. 

the  king  being  angry  and  very  furious,  and  having  previously 
told  them  that  there  was  hut  one  decree  for  them^  commanded  tc 
destroy  all  the  wise  men  of  Babylon.  All  the  art  of  man  was 
baffled;  "lying  and  corrupt  words"  could  be  of  no  avail ;  some- 
thing beyond  deception,  and  that  could  not  be  accused  of  it,  wais 
necessary  here,  and  wholly  unattainat^e  by  mortal.  A  fit  occa- 
sion, combined,  as  it  afterwards  proved  to  be,  with  the  revelation 
of  the  future  fate  of  the  world,  was  presented  for  the  display  of 
more  than  human  wisdom.  He  alone,  who  knoweth  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart,  and  who  is  a  discerner  of  the  spirit,  could 
communicate  to  the  mind  of  man  that  knowledge  which  the  king 
required.  And  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  who 
had  chosen  the  children  of  Israel  for  his  peculiar  people,  that  all 
the  families  of  the  earth  might  finally  be  blessed  in  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  heard  the  prayers  of  Daniel,  and  of  the  other  captive 
princes  of  Judah,  when  innocently  condemned  to  die ;  and  he 
who  turneth  the  hearts  of  men  a;s  the  rivers  of  water,  and  who 
holds  in  his  hands  the  thoughts  of  kings,  as  well  as  of  their  sub- 
jects, was  pleased  to  reveal  the  secret  unto  Daniel  in  a  night 
vrision.  And  it  was  to  God  that  he  expressed  his  gratitude,  and 
ascribed  all  the  praise. — "  Then  Daniel  blessed  the  God  of  hea- 
ven. Blessed  be  the  name  of  God  for  ever  and  ever,  for  wisdom 
rtnd  might  are  his.  And  he  changeth  the  times  and  the  seasons. 
He  removeth  kings,  and  setteth  up  kings  :  he  giveth  wisdom  to 
'he  wise,  and  knowledge  to  them  that  know  understanding.  He 
evealeth  the  deep  and  secret  things.  He  knoweth  what  is  in  the 
larkness,  and  the  light  dwelleth  with  him.  I  thank  thee  and 
praise  thee,  O  thou  God  of  my  fathers,  who  hast  given  me  wis- 
dom and  might,  and  hast  made  known  unto  me  now  what  we 
desired  of  thee,  for  thou  hast  made  known  unto  us  the  king's 
matter."  And  as  Daniel  thus  offered  up  his  praise  and  gratitude 
in  secret  prayer  unto  God,  so  he  boasted  not  of  himself  before  the 
king,  nor  attributed  the  knowledge  of  the  secret  to  his  own  wis- 
dom, but  gave  all  the  glory  unto  God,  declaring  that  there  is  a 
God  in  heaven  that  revealeth  secrets,  and  maketh  known  what 

SHALL  BE  IN  THE  LATTER  DAVS.       (Dan.  chap.  ii.) 

Daniel  told  unto  the  king  his  dream — the  vision  of  his  head 
upon  his  bed — and  the  thoughts  that  had  come  into  his  mind,  and 
that  (till  Daniel  recalled  them)  had  passed  from  his  own  remem- 
brance. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  more  discriminating  test  of  super- 
human knowledge,  or  any  means  by  which  a  stronger  impression 
could  have  been  made  upon  the  mind  of  the  king,  of  the  most 
positive  conviction  that  Daniel  was  indeed  the  Prophet  of  God, 
and  that  as  he  had  told  him  the  dream,  he  had  shown  also  the 
true  interpretation  thereof.  And  as  the  revealing  of  the  dreara 
afforded  this  indubitable  proof  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  so  the  dream 
itself  and  its  interpretation,  and  the  exact  completion  of  this  pre- 


SUeCESSIVE   GREAT  EMPIRES.  381 

diction  of  events  then  future,  give  to  us  in  the  present  day  proof 
as  indubitable,  that  Daniel  did  make  known  the  dream  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar,— that  the  dream  is  certain,  and  the  interpretation 
thereof  sure. 

It  is  as  easy  for  an  impartial  inquirer  in  the  present  day  as  it 
was  for  Nebuchadnezzar  to  judge  of  the  truth  of  the  words  of 
Daniel.  Every  word  of  the  prophet  would  bring  back  to  the 
mind  of  the  king  his  own  former  thoughts,  and  every  part  of  the 
prophecy  still  gives  as  striking  demonstration  that  Daniel  did 
indeed  reveal  what  would  come  to  pass  thereafter,  and  what 
would  be  in  the  latter  days.  And  although  it  was  as  utterly  im- 
possible for  Nebuchadnezzar  to  know  of  those  future  events 
which  Daniel  foretold,  as  it  was  for  the  magicians  to  restore  to 
him  his  own  lost  thoughts,  yet  nothing  is  now  easier  than  to 
discern  and  to  apply  to  each  and  every  part  of  the  prediction  its 
successive  and  corresponding  event.  And  it  was  not  merely  to 
satisfy  the  disquietude  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  mind — it  was  not 
merely  that  the  life  of  Daniel  and  of  his  fellows  might  be  spared 
— that  a  condemned  captive  became  thus  an  inspired  prophet, 
but  that  the  word  of  God  might  be  ratified  by  supernatural  evi- 
dence— that  Christians  in  every  age  might  know  in  whom  they 
have  believed — that  the  providence  of  God  might  finally  be 
manifested  over  all,  and  that  if  the  gospel  be  hid,  it  may  be  hid 
only  to  them  that  are  lost,  who  seeing,  see  not,  and  who  hearing, 
will  not  understand. 

The  only  requisite  commentary  on  the  predictions  is  a  simple 
and  succinct  recapitulation  of  the  events  which  they  avowedly 
prefigured.  The  interpretation,  which  is  alike  prophetic  with 
the  symbolical  image,  declares,  that  a  kingdom  inferior  to  the 
Babylonian  was  immediately  to  succeed  it — that  another  kingdom 
of  brass  was  then  to  arise,  which  was  to  bear  rule  over  all  the  earth-— 
that  the  fourth  kingdom  was  to  be  strong  as  iron,  to  break  in  pieces 
and  subdue  all  things,  or  all  other  kingdoms.  The  Persian  empire 
was  established  on  the  subversion  of  the  Babylonian — the  power 
or  duration  of  which  it  did  not  attain.  The  Macedo-Grecian 
empire,  under  Alexander  the  Great,  succeeded  to  the  Persian.  It  is 
called  a  kingdom  of  brass,  a  metal  more  justly  emblematical  of 
the  Grecian  than  any  other — as  they  were  distinguished  by  their 
coats  of  brass,  and  denominated  the  brass-clothed  Greeks.^  This 
empire  is  described  as  having  ruled  over  all  the  earth.  It  not  only 
surpassed,  in  the  extent  of  its  conquests  and  dominion,  the  Baby- 
lonian and  the  Persian,  but  was  literally  called  a  universal 
empire ;  and  its  founder  is  still  known  to  fame,  as  one  of  the 
greatest  of  conquerors  who  ever  lived.  (These  empires  are  more 
particularly  described  by  Daniel  in  his  subsequent  prophecies.) 
The  next  empire  which  extended  its  power  over  these  countries 

'  Homeri  II.  ii.  47. 


382  GRECIAN,   PERSIAN,   AND 

was  the  Roman.  //  was  strong  as  iron:  /(trasmuch  as  iron 
hreaketh  in  pieces,  and  suhdueth  all,  and  as  iron  that  breakelh  aU 
tkeae  shall  it  break  in  pieces  and  bruise.  Iron  was  its  appropriate 
emblem.  It  was  an  iron  crown  which  its  emperors  wore  (pro- 
verbially the  iron  crown  of  Italy;) — and  an  iron  yoke  to  wnich 
it  subjected  many  nations :  It  bruised  all  the  residue  of  the  former 
kinu;dorns,  and  brake  them  in  piecesT'  It  is  impossible,  on  a 
retrospect  of  this  history,  to  give  any  representation,  in  so  few- 
words,  more  justly  descriptive  of  the  Persian,  Grecian,  and 
Roman  empires.  But  the  Roman  empire  itself  was  broken  down 
— divided  into  different  kingdoms — some  of  them  powerful,  and 
others  comparatively  weak.  The  sovereigns  of  these  different 
kingdoms  have  been  perpetually  contracting  matrimonial  alliances 
with  each  other;  but,  notwithstanding  this  seeming  bond  of 
union,  they  have  not  united  or  adhered  together.  The  know- 
ledge of  these  historical  truths,  familiar  to  every  reader,  alone 
suffices  for  the  elucidation  of  the  prophecy,  i^nd  whereas  thou 
sawcst  the  feet  and  toes  part  of  potter^s  clay  and  part  <f  iron,  the 
kijigdmn  shall  be  divided ;  but  there  shall  be  in  it  of  the  strength  of 
the  iron,  forasmuch  as  thou  sawest  the  iron  mixed  with  miry  clay, 
jSnd  as  the  toes  of  the  feet  were  part  if  iron  and  part  of  clay,  so  the 
kingdom  shall  be  partly  strong  and  partly  broken.  Jlnd  whereas 
thini  sawest  iron  mixed  with  miry  clay,  they  shall  mingle  themselves 
with  the  seed  of  men  .•  but  they  s/uill  not  cleave  one  to  another,  even  as 
iron  is  nnt  mixed  with  clay. 

To  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  aspired  only  after  human  power 
and  glory,  the  various  empires  that  were  in  their  order  to  succeed 
his  own,  and  tyrannize  over  the  world,  were  represented  by  a 
splendid  image.  But  in  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  "  Man  of 
God"  they  appeared  in  other  colours,  and  assumed  a  very  different 
form.  And  under  the  appropriate  symbol  of  wild  beasts,  varying 
in  fierceness  and  cruelty,  and  distinguished '  by  monstrous  pecu- 
liarities, the  successive  empires  of  Babylon,  Persia,  Macedon  or 
Greece,  and  Rome — the  future  promoters  of  idolatry  and  oppress- 
ors of  man — were  aptly  characterized. 

In  the  vision  of  the  prophet,  not  only  the  number  of  the  king- 
doms and  the  order  of  succession  are  the  same,  and  also  the 
different  characteristic  features  accordant  with  those  of  the  pre- 
ceding sjTnbolical  representation,  but  to  the  brief  outline  given 
in  the  former,  several  additional  circumstances  are  annexed,  and  . 
fin  a  manner  totally  at  variance  with  any  wild  and  extravagant 
fancies  arising  from  mere  pretended  foreknowledge)  the  nearer 
that  the  vision  approaches  to  "  the  latter  limes,"  it  becomes  the 
more  copious  and  the  more  minutely  defined. 

The  first  kingdom,  viz.  the  Babylonian,  then  existing,  was 
represented  by  a  lion  that  had  eagle's  wings.  But  although  then 
worthy  of  such  emblems,  the  wings  wherewith  it  was  lifted  up 
were  to  be  plucked.     "  It  was  to  be  humbled  and  subdued,  and 


ROMAN    EMPIRES.  ^    383 

made  to  know  its  human  state,' — a  man's  heart  (instead  of  a 
lion's.)  was  g-iven  it.  Tlie  second  kingdom  was  the  Persian;  it 
was  noted  by  historians  for  its  brutal  cruelty, — and  is  prefigured 
by  a  bear.  This  beast  raised  itself  upon  one  side,  the  Persians 
being  under  the  Medes  at  the  fall  of  Babylon,  but  presently  rising 
up  above  them.  And  it  had  three  ribs  in  the  mouth  of  it  between 
the  teeth  of  it,  signifying  the  kingdoms  of  Sardis,  Babylon,  and 
Egypt,  which  were  conquered  by  it,  but  did  not  belong  to  its 
proper  body."^  The  third  beast  represents  the  kingdom  that 
was  to  succeed  the  Persian,  which  was  the  empire  of  the  Greeks, 
first  established  over  the  east  by  Alexander  the  Great.  It  con- 
sisted of  various  nations,  far  niore  diversified  in  their  manners 
and  customs  than  were  the  Babylonians,  Medes,  and  Persians, 
and  was  thus  spotted  like  a  leopard.  The  rapidity  of  its  rise  and 
conquests  is  aptly  denoted  by  its  four  wings,  while  the  four  heads 
are  significative  of  the  exact  number  of  kingdoms  into  which  it 
was  divided.  The  fourth  empire  was  the  Roman.  It  was  dreadful 
and  terrible,  and  strong  exceedingly,  and  diverse  from  all  king- 
doms. Such  was  the  Roman  empire,  and  such  are  the  very 
words  of  the  prophecy  concerning  the  "  fourth  kingdom."  Tlie 
beast  was  terrible;  it  had  great  iron  teeth,  it  devoured  and  brake 
in  pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it. — The 
Roman  empire  was  larger,  stronger,  and  more  terrible,  and  of 
greater  duration  than  any  of  the  former;  it  was  diverse  from  all 
kingdoms  that  were  before  it;  and,  on  its  fall,  it  was  subdivided 
into  a  greater  number  of  distinct  kingdoms.  Machiavel  (for 
whose  creed  the  church  of  Rome  and  infidelity  can  alone  contend) 
who  wist  not  of  the  consequences  of  the  historical  fact,  speci- 
fies by  name  the  ten  kingdoms  into  which  the  Roman  empire  was 
divided.  Some  of  these  kingdoms  at  length  fell,  and  new  ones 
arose.  But,  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  remarks,  they  are  still  called 
the  ten  kings  from  their  first  number.  And  like  the  ten  toes  of 
the  image,  the  fourth  beast  had  ten  horns,  which  the  prophet  in- 
terprets kingdoms,  (v.  7,  24.)  After  these  another  power,  diverse 
from  the  first,  (v.  24,)  and  little  at  its  commencement,  was  to 
arise,  which  was  to  subdue  three  kings.  In  this  horn  were  eyes 
like  the  eyes  of  a  man,  and  a  mouth  speaking  very  great  things, 
whose  look  was  more  stout  than  his  fellows.  He  was  to  speak  great 
words  against  ("  by  the  side  of,"  or  on  assumed  equality  with) 
the  Most  High,  to  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High ,-  and  to  think 
to  change  times  and  laws,  and  they  were  to  be  given  into  his  hands 
for  a  long  but  yet  limited  period.  The  church  of  Rome  rose  to 
power,  diverse  from  that  of  any  other,  after  the  dismemberment 
of  the  Roman  empire.  The  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  kingdom 
of  the  Lombards,  and  the  state  of  Rome,  were  subjected  to  its 

'Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Observations  on   the  Prophecies  of  Daniel, 
p.  29. 
2  Ibid. 


384  GRECIAN,    PERSIAN,    AND 

temporal  arweU  as  spiritual  authority,'  and  plucked  up  before 
it.  In  this  horn  were  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a  mfln,  "  By  its  eyes 
it  was  a  seer,  Erttcrxomoj,  a  bishop  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word ; 
and  this  church  claims  the  universal  bishopric.  With  his  mouth 
he  spake  very  great  things ;  gave  laws  to  kings  and  nations  as  an 
oracle,  pretends  to  infallibility,  and  tl^at  his  dictates  are  binding 
on  the  whole  world. "*  His  look  was  more  stout  than  his  fel- 
lows :  the  pope,  asrhead  of  the  church,  has  not  only  ever  claimed 
supremacy  over  every  other  bishop,  but  kings  have  often  pros- 
trated themselves  before  him  and  done  the  office  of  menials.  And 
how  closely  does  the  character  of  wearing  out  the  saints  of  the 
Most  High  befit  the  church  of  Rome.  However  much  its  cha- 
racter may  now  in  reality  or  in  appearance  be  altered,  the  time  is 
not  distant,  when  every  auto  da  fe  {act  of  Romish  faith)  brought 
the  recusants  of  idolatry — the  worshippers  of  the  Most  High — to 
the  stake,  and  by  every  refinement  in  cruelty  did  it  try  to  wear 
them  out.  And  he  shall  think  to  change  times  and  laws ;  "  appoint- 
ing fasts  and  feasts,  canonizing  saints,  granting  pardons  and 
indulgences  for  sins,  instituting  new  modes  of  worship,  imposing 
new  articles  of  faith,  enjoining  new  rules  of  practice,  and  revers- 
ing at  pleasure  the  laws  both  of  God  and  men."^ 

The  prophetic  interpretation  of  another  vision  of  Daniel  now 
presents  such  a  retrospective  view  of  the  history  of  the  East, 
that  scarcely  the  slightest  comment  is  requisite  to  show  its  per- 
fect adaptation  to  the  events.  At  the  time  of  the  end  shall  be  the 
vision.  I  will  make  thee  know  what  shall  be  in  the  last  end  of  the 
indignation^  for  at  the  time  appointed  the  end  shall  be.  The  ram 
which  thou  sawest  having  two  horns  are  the  kings  of  Media  and 
Persia.  And  the  rough  goat  is  the  king  of  Grecian  and  the  great 
horn  that  is  between  his  eyes  is  the  first  king  (Alexander  the  Great). 
Now^  that  being  broken,  whereas  four  stood  up  for  it,  four  king- 
doms shall  stand  up  out  of  the  nation,  but  not  in  his  power  (which 
none  of  them  ever  attained). — And  in  the  latter  time  of  their  king- 
dom, (at  a  distance  of  time,  but  prevailing  over  the  same  territory,) 
when  the  transgressors  are  come  to  the  full,  (Isa.  xxiv.  5,  6,)  a  king 
offeree  countenance,  (Mahomet,  who  proffered  only  submission  or 
the  sword,)  and  understanding  dark  sentences,  (wherewith  the  Ko- 
ran pre-eminently  abounds,)  shall  stand  up.  And  his  power  shall 
be  mighty,  but  not  by  his  own  power  (he  possessed  no  hereditary 
dominion,  and  arose  from  nothing).  And  he  shall  destroy  wonder- 
fully, and  shall  prosper,  and  practise,  and  shall  destroy  the  mighty 
and  the  holy  people,  or  the  people  of  the  holy  ones  (the  Christians). 
And  through  his  policy  shall  he  cause  craft  to  prosper  in  his  hand 
(by  a  faith  accommodated  to  the  passions  of  men).     And  he  shall 

•  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Observations  on  the  Prophecies  of  Daniel,  p.  73. 
Bishop  Newton's  Dissert,  xiv. 
"  Sir  Isaac  Newton  on  Daniel,  p.  75. 
'  Bishop  Newton,  Diss.  xiv. 


ROMAN  EMPIRES.  385 

magnify  himself  in  his  heart.  ("  There  is  no  God  but  one,  and 
Mahomet  is  his  prophet.")  And  hy  peace  shall  he  destroy  many. 
Such  is  the  intrinsic  despotism  and  withering  influence  of  Maho- 
metan government,  that  under  their  sway  countries  naturally  the 
most  fertile,  and  long  exuberant  in  population  and  produce,  have 
been  depopulated  and  destroyed  to  a  greater  degree  by  peace  than 
any  other  countries  have  been  by  war.  He  shall  stand  up  against 
the  prince  of  princes,  magnifying  himself  even  to  the  prince  of  the 
host  (calling  himself  a  greater  prophet  than  Christ).  It  waxed 
exceeding,  great  toward  the  south,  and  toward  the  east,  and  toward  the 
pleasant  land,  (Palestine,)  the  very  direction  and  progress,  accord- 
ing to  Gibbon,  of  the  greatest  and  most  permanent  of  the  Ma- 
hometan conquests.  It  cast  down  of  the  host  and  of  the  stars  to 
the  ground,  (Christian  churches,)  and  stamped  upon  them,  and  the 
place  of  the  sanctuary  (Jerusalem)  was  cast  down.  The  vision  was 
for  many  days.  Many  days  have  passed,  and  all  is  accomplished 
but  the  last  end  of  the  "  desolation,  which  has  given  the  sanctuary 
to  be  trodden  under  foot." 

Looking  back  then  upon  those  successive  empires  which  are 
the  best  known,  and  have  been  the  most  influential  on  the  fate  of 
the  world,  and  comparing  the  bare  predictions  and  the  prominent 
events,  is  there  not  visible  a  chain  of  prophecy,  without  a  link 
distorted  or  broken,  stretched  by  no  human  hand  over  the  history 
of  man  from  the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar  to  the  present  hour, 
and  on  which  the  future  fate  of  the  world  hangs  suspended  still  1 
And  without  diverging  to  other  matters,  may  not  the  primary 
question  be  here  reverted  to,  whether,  such  as  they  are,  these 
predictions  bear  not  a  closer  and  less  convertible  similitude  to 
the  events  of  which  they  are  avowedly  predictive,  than  human 
«agacity  could  have  discovered  or  invented?  And  may  not  a 
case  be  here  put,  which  would  try  the  reasoning  powers  of  reck- 
less mockers,  and  bring  this  question  to  the  proof? 

Were  a  despot  now  troubled  at  the  thought — a  thought  which 
no  tyrant  could  brook — that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God,  and 
that  he  who  is  higher  than  the  highest  regardeth  him ;  and  were 
he  to  possess  the  power,  and  to  congregate  around  him  all  the  illu- 
minati — the  magicians  and  astrologers — of  modern  times,  and  to 
demand  of  them  the  cause  why  the  image  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
and  the  visions  of  Daniel  bear  so  striking  a  resemblance  to  those 
future  kingdoms,  and  to  the  latter  times  of  which  they  were 
avowedly  symbolical ;  and  how,  by  natural  causes  and  human 
wisdom  alone,  the  whole  history  of  the  Jews  to  the  present  hour 
was  written,  at  the  very  least,  two  thousand  years  ago  ;  and  how 
all  the  countries,  and  all  the  people,  and  all  the  cities  of  whose 
destiny  they  spoke,  should  accredit,  to  every  jot  and  to  a  very 
tittle,  the  words  of  the  seers  of  Israel,  and  present  in  their 
history  and  fate  an  exact  counterpart  of  a  professedly  prophetic 
delineation ;  and  were  they  farther  to  be  debarred  from  ridicule, 
33 


386 


CONCLUDING   REMARKS   ON 


and  bound  to  reason,  and  told  that "  they  dared  not  prepare  lying 
and  corrupt  words  to  speak  before  him,"  and  that  "there  was  out 
onedecree  for  them,"iftheydid  not  makegood  their  professed  claim 
to  such  wisdom,  show  the  sure  interpretation  of  the  matter,  resolve 
all  his  doubts,  and  restore  quietude  to  his  troubled  thoughts,  such 
as  words  of  truth  like  Daniel's  gavejto  the  mind  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar ;  then,  verily,  much  do  we  fear,  would  the  lives  of  the 
philosophes  and  savam  of  Europe  be  in  no  less  jeopardy  than  were 
those  of  their  prototypes,  the  wise  men  and  the  soothsayers  of 
Babylon.  And  their  poor  faith  having-  no  treasures  in  store  to 
repay  the  life-blood  of  a  single  mortal ;  no  hope^  though  otherwise 
forfeited,  sufficient  to  bribe  one  solitary  martyr  to  the  block ;  to 
what  fitter  terms  than  these  (if  their  wisdom  on  such  a  trial  should 
fail  them)  could  their  blanched  and  quivering  lips,  long  used  to 
mockery  before,  give  utterance  at  last,  "There  is  not  a  man  upon 
earth  that  can  show  the  king's  matter;  therefore  there  is  no  king, 
lord,  nor  ruler  that  asketh  such  things  at  any  magician  or  astrologer, 
or  Chaldean.  And  it  is  a  rare  thing  that  the  king  requireth :  and 
there  is  none  other  that  can  show  it  before  the  king  except  the 
gods,  whose  dwelling  is  not  with  flesh."' 

The  frequent  perversion  of  the  "  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  and 
the  substitution  in  its  stead  of  the  "  commandments  of  men ;"  the 
party  animosities,  and  religious  wars  and  persecutions,  so  con- 
trary to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  which  have  so  long  prevailed : 
the  gross  impostures,  absunl  superstitions,  and  impious  rites, 
which  have  often  been  forced  into  unnatural  alliance  with  Chris- 
tianity, and  grafted  by  human  hands  into  the  heavenly  stock ;  the 
domineering  spirit  of  an  unholy  priesthood ;  the  partial  diffusion 
of  the  religion  of  Jesus  during  many  ages;  and  the  delusions  of 
a  manifest  impostor  triumphing  over  the  Christian  religion,  even 
in  the  regions  which  gave  it  birth ;  have  all  proved  stumbling- 
blocks  in  the  way  of  many,  or  a  rock  of  offence  on  which  they 
have  made  shipwreck  of  faith  and  of  a  good  conscience.  Yet  all 
these  are  but  the  various  combatings  of  the  impure  passions,  and 
the  worldly-mindedness  of  man  against  a  holy  and  spiritual  faith— 
the  workings  o^  ^  predicted  "  mystery  of  iniquity :"  and  not  only 
does  the  purity  of  the  gospel  itself  remain  unaffected  by  them  all, 
but  its  truth,  as  the  inspired  word  of  God,  is  the  more  fully  esta- 
blished. Even  here  "  God  has  not  left  himself  without  a  wit- 
ness ;"  and  "  we  do  well  to  give  heed  to  the  sure  word  of  prophecy, 
which  shineth  as  a  light  in  a  dark  place." 

But  the  church  of  Christ,  though  long  militant  "  against  spirit- 
ual wickedness  in  high  places,"  shall,  according  to  the  Scriptures, 
become,  even  on  earth,  finally  triumphant.  And  it  is  not  merely 
from  the  analogy  of  the  truth  of  the  past,  that  the  certainty  of  the 
events  yet  future  may  be  confided  in ;  for  there  is  not  wanting,  in 

'Danielii.  10,  11. 


PROPHECIES   OF  DANIEL.  387 

the  actual  state  of  the  world,  subsisting  evidence  of  the  germi- 
nating fulfilment  of  prophecy.  The  rapid  diffusion  o^'knowledge ; 
the  numerous  inventions  and  discoveries  in  physical  science,  and 
the  immense  accession  they  have  given  to  the  power  of  man ;  the 
facilities  of  communication  and  frequencies  of  intercourse  that 
now  prevail  throughout  the  world ;  the  nature  of  recent  wars — 
contests  for  principles  rather  than  for  property ;  the  abandonment 
in  different  states  and  kingdoms  of  the  principles  and  the  prac- 
tice of  unrestricted  and  unmitigated  despotism,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  constitutional  governments  in  its  stead ;  the  ready  expres- 
sion and  powerful  efficacy  of  public  opinion,  sobered  down  as  it 
is  to  the  desire  of  substantial  rather  than  theoretic  liberty,  and  of 
its  expansion  throughout  the  world,  and  awed  by  the  remembrance 
of  all  the  exhibited  horrors  of  anarchy  and  atheism ;  the  mani- 
fold philanthropic  and  religious  associations,  so  diversified  in 
their  objects,  and  active  in  their  operations,  for  alleviating  the 
miseries,  enlightening  the  ignorance,  and  ameliorating  the  moral 
condition  of  our  species ;  and,  though  last,  not  least  of  all,  the 
unexampled  and  astonishing  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  avidity  with  which  they  are  sought  after  in  many  a  land ;  all 
these  unite  in  giving  the  same  promise  to  mortal  hope,  which  the 
words  of  Scripture  impart  to  religious  faith,  that  the  "  appointed 
time,"  whatever  convulsions  may  yet  intervene,  is  approximating, 
when  despotism  and  superstition  shall  come  to  an  end,  and  when 
brutal  power  or  governments,  fitly  symbolized  by  wild  beasts, 
shall  cease  to  trample  on  the  liberties  of  man.  The  powers  of 
darkness  are  already  shaken.  He  whose  "  look  was  more  stout 
than  his  fellows"  has  been  greatly  humbled.  His  dominion  has 
in  part  been  taken  away^  and  it  will  be  consumed  and  destroyed 
until  the  end. 


388  RESTORATION 


No.  II. 

PROPHECIES  CONCERNING  THE  FINAL,  RESTORATION  OF  THE 
JEWS  AND  THEIR  RETURN  TO  THE  LAND  OF  JUDEA. 

"  The  Lord  thy  God  will  turn  thy  captivity,  and  will  have 
compassion  upon  thee,  and  will  return  and  gather  thee  from  all 
the  nations  whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered  thee.  If 
any  of  thine  be  driven  out  unto  the  outmost  parts  of  heaven,  from 
thence  will  the  Lord  thy  God  gather  thee,  and  from  thence  will 
he  fetch  thee.  And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  bring  thee  into  the 
land  which  thy  fathers  possessed,  and  thou  shalt  possess  it ;  and 
he  will  do  thee  good,  and  multiply  thee  above  thy  fathers." 
(Deut.  XXX.  3,  4,  5.)  "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  the  Lord 
shall  set  his  hand  again  the  second  time,  to  recover  the  remnant 
of  his  people,  which  shall  be  left  from  Assyria,  and  from  Egypt, 
and  from  Pathros,  and  from  Gush,  and  from  Elam,  and  from 
Shinar,  and  from  Hamath,  and  from  the  islands  of  the  sea.  And 
he  shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  and  shall  assemble  the 
outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather  together  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from 
the  four  corners  of  the  earth."  (Isaiah  xi.  11,  12,  &c.)  "Who 
are  these  that  fly  as  a  cloud,  and  as  the  doves  to  their  windows'? 
Surely  the  isles  shall  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish  first, 
to  bring  thy  sons  from  far,  their  silver  and  their  gold  with  them, 
unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel, 
because  he  hath  glorified  thee.  And  the  sons  of  strangers  shall 
build  up  thy  walls,  and  their  kings  shall  minister  unto  thee  ;  for 
in  my  wrath  I  smote  thee,  but  in  my  favour  have  I  had  mercy  on 
thee."  (Isa.  Ix.  8 — 10,  &c.)  "And  they  shall  build  the  old 
wastes,  they  shall  raise  up  the  former  desolations,  they  shall 
repair  the  waste  cities,  the  desolations  of  many  generations." 
(Isaiah  Ixi.  4,  &c.)  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  If  heaven  above 
can  be  measured,  and  the  foundations  of  the  earth  searched  out 
beneath,  I  will  also  cast  off  all  the  seed  of  Israel,  for  all  that  they 
have  done,  saith  the  Lord.  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the 
Lord,  that  the  city  shall  be  built  to  the  Lord,  from  the  tower  of 
Hananeel  unto  the  gate  of  the  corner :  and  the  measuring  line 
shall  go  over  against  it;  and  it  shall  not  be  plucked  up  nor 
thrown  down  any  more  for  ever."  (.Ter.  xxxi.  37,  &c.)  "  But 
ye,  O  mountains  of  Israel,  shall  shoot  forth  your  branches  and 
yield  your  fruit  to  my  people  of  Israel ;  and  I  will  multiply  men 
upon  you,  all  the  house  of  Israel,  even  all  of  it ;  and  the  cities 
shall  be  inhabited,  and  the  wastes  shall  be  builded,"  &c.  "  For 
1  will  take  you  (O  house  of  Israel)  from  among  the  heathen, 


OF  THE   JEWS.  389 

and  gather  you  out  of  all  countries,  and  will  bring  you  into  youi 
own  land."  (Ezek.  xxxvi.  8, 10—24.)  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 
Behold,  I  will  take  the  children  of  Israel  from  among  the  heathen, 
whither  they  be  gone,  and  will  gather  them  on  every  side,  and 
bring  them  into  their  own  land.  (Ibid,  xxxvii.  21,  &c.)  "Turn 
ye  to  the  stronghold,  ye  prisoners  of  hope,  even  to-day  do  I  de- 
clare that  I  will  render  double  unto  thee,  when  I  have  bent  Judah 
for  me,  filled  the  bow  with  Ephraim,  and  raised  up  thy  sons,  O 
Zion,  against  thy  sons,  O  Greece,  and  made  thee  as  the  sword 
of  a  mighty  man,"  &c.  (Zech.  ix.  12,  &c.)  "  Behold  the  days 
come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  the  ploughman  shall  overtake  the 
reaper,  and  the  treader  of  grapes  him  that  soweth  seed ;  and  the 
mountains  shall  drop  sweet  wine,  and  all  the  hills  shall  melt. 
And  I  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  my  people  of  Israel,  and 
they  shall  build  the  waste  cities,  and  inhabit  them ;  and  they 
shall  plant  vineyards,  and  drink  the  wine  thereof;  they  shall  also 
make  gardens,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them.  And  I  will  plant  them 
upon  their  own  land,  and  they  shall  be  no  more  pulled  up  out  of 
their  land  which  I  have  given  them,  saith  the  Lord  thy  God." 
(Amos  ix.  13 — 15.)  "  I  will  surely  assemble,  O  Jacob,  all  of 
thee.  I  will  surely  gather  the  remnant  of  Israel ;  I  will  put  them 
together  as  the  sheep  of  Bozrah,  as  the  flock  in  the  midst  of  their 
fold :  they  shall  make  great  noise  by  reason  of  the  multitude  of 
men."     (Micah  ii.  12.) 

These  prophecies,  exclusive  of  many  others,  need  no  comment. 
They  declare,  as  clearly  as  language  can,  that  the  Jews  shall 
return  to  Judea,  and  be  at  last  permanently  re-established  in  the 
land  of  their  fathers.  The  uniform  experience  of  the  literal  truth 
of  every  prediction  respecting  their  past  history  may  suffice  to 
give  assurance  of  the  certainty  of  their  predicted  restoration. 
And,  amidst  many  signs  that  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  are  drawing 
towards  their  fulfilment,  many  concurring  circumstances  seem 
also  to  be  preparing  the  way  of  the  children  of  Israel.  Scattered 
as  they  have  been  for  so  many  ages  through  the  world,  and  main- 
taining still  their  distinctive  character,  their  whole  history  forbids 
the  thought  that  they  will  ever  mingle  among  the  nations,  or 
cease  to  be,  what  they  have  ever  been,  a  peculiar  people.  But 
while  their  history  as  a  nation  gave,  for  the  space  of  many 
generations,  unequivocal  attestations  of  an  overruling  providence, 
sustaining  the  theocracy  of  the  commonwealth  of  Israel;  and 
while,  during  a  period  of  still  greater  duration,  they  have  been 
"a  people  scattered  and  peeled  :"  yet,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many 
ages,  they  are  still  reserved  for  illustrating  the  truth,  the  mercy, 
and  the  glory  of  the  God  of  Israel ;  at  eventide  it  shall  be  light. 
They  now  begin,  centuries  of  persecution  and  spoliation  having 
passed  away,  to  participate,  in  cases  too  numerous  to  be  specified, 
of  benefits  arising  from  the  altered  spirit  of  the  times.  And  pos- 
sessed, as  Ml  an  unexampled  degree  they  are,  of  silver  and  gold^ 
33* 


390  RESTORATION  OF  THE  JEWS. 

and  of  large  portions  of  the  public  funds  of  various  kingdoms, 
they  may  Be  said,  even  now,  in  some  manner,  to  inherit  the  riches 
of  the  Gentiles.  And  commanding,  as  in  a  great  measure  they 
do,  the  rate  of  exchange  throughout  Europe,  they  are  entitled, 
from  the  present  influence  of  money  on  the  security  of  govern- 
ments, and  on  the  art  and  results  of  war,  to  high  political  consi- 
deration ;  and  the  time  may  not  thus  be  remote,  when  they  shall 
be  raised  up  as  an  ensign  among  the  natioris.  Not  naturalized  to 
the  isles  of  the  Gentiles,  either  by  law  or  affection,  or  bound  to 
any  S'oil  by  the  possession  of  fixed  property,  which  would  be  of 
no  easy  transference;  but  ever  looking  with  undiminished  love  to 
the  land  of  their  fathers^  even  after  an  expatriation  uninter- 
rupted for  nearly  eighteen  centuries,  they  are  ready,  whenever 
the  time  shall  be  fulfilled,  to  fly  thither  like  a  cloudy  and  like  doves 
to  their  windows.  But  to  what  degree,  and  in  what  manner  the 
present  convulsions  of  the  Turkish  empire,  combined  with  the 
peculiar,  and,  in  many  instances,  novel  condition  of  the  Jews 
throughout  Europe  and  America,  shall  be  the  means  of  facili- 
tating their  eventual  restoration  to  their  own  land,  no  mortal  can 
determine.  It  is  enough  for  Christians  to  know,  that  two  thou- 
sands of  years,  through  nearly  which  period  it  has  been  dormant, 
can  neither  render  extmct  the  title,  nor  prescribe  the  heaven-charted 
right  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  to  the  final  and  everlasting  possession 
of  the  land  of  Canaan ;  that  God  will  remember  the  land,,  and  gather 
together  unto  it  his  ancient  people ;  and  that  his  word  concerning 
Zion,  which  he  hath  neither  forgotten  nor  forsaken,,  is,  /  have 
graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  my  hands,  thy  walls  are  continually 
before  me.  Thy  children  shall  make  haste ;  thy  destroyers,  and  they 
that  made  thee  waste,  shall  go  forth  of  thee,  &c.  (Isa.  xlix.  16,  17, 
&c.)  "  And  that  through  all  the  changes  which  have  happened 
in  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  from  the  days  of  Moses  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  which  is  more  than  three  thousand  two  hundred  years, 
nothing  should  have  happened  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  the 
accomplishment  of  these  prophecies,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  the 
state  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  nations  at  this  day,  should  be 
such  as  renders  them  easily  capable,  not  only  of  a  figurative,  but 
even  of  a  literal  completion  in  every  particular,  if  the  will  of  God 
be  so ;  this  is  a  miracle,  which  hath  nothing  parallel  to  it  in  the 
phenomena  of  nature." — darkens  Evidences. 


THE  GREAT  APOSTASY.  391 


No.   III. 

ABSTILA.CT   OF   PROPHECIES   RELATIVE    TO    THE    GREAT 
APOSTASY. 

Clearly  revealed  as  is  the  will  of  God  in  Scripture,  and  per- 
fectly calculated  as  is  the  gospel  to  effect  the  happiness  of  man, 
and  faithful  unto  the  death  as  many  of  the  primitive  Christians 
were, — it  is  no  less  manifest  that  an  apostasy,  or  falling-  away 
from  the  faith,  was  foretold.  And  who  can  read  the  Scriptures 
with  an  unbiassed  mind,  and  look  to  the  history  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  doubt  for  a  moment  that  there  has  been  an  apostasy, 
or  falling  away  from  the  truth  and  simplicity  of  the  faith  as  it  is 
in  Jesus'?  Or  who,  in  a  like  unbiassed  manner,  can  read  the 
prophecies  respecting  that  apostasy,  and  cherish  even  a  moment- 
ary doubt  of  their  application "? 

It  would  be  foreign  to  the  object  of  this  treatise,  and  it  would 
require  a  volume  rather  than  a  concluding  page,  to  enter  at  large 
upon  such  a  subject.  But  the  simple  comparison  of  a  few  pro- 
minent predictions  and  undeniable  facts,  which  scarcely  need 
any  illustration,  may  tend  to  show  that  much  evidence  of  the 
inspiration  of  Scripture  may  be  drawn  from  the  obscure  prophe- 
cies, and  that  their  obscurity  in  a  great  measure  vanishes,  on  the 
most  succinct  combination  of  predictions  and  of  facts. 

The  coincidence,  not  in  meaning  only,  but  in  words,  which 
subsists  between  the  following  predictions,  strikingly  denotes 
their  reference  to  or  connection  with  the  same  subject.  And 
when  viewed  as  a  portraiture  of  events  now  passed,  or  still  in 
progress,  the  apparent  obscurity  arising  from  the  adoption  of 
symbols,  or  figurative  representations,  may  be  at  once  removed 
by  merely  bearing  in  mind  that  in  Scripture  itself  the  term  heast 
is  explained  as  denoting  a  king,  kingdom,  or  reigning  power; 
and  that,  in  the  phraseology  of  the  Old  Testament,  idolatry,  or 
the  worship  of  false  gods  or  images,  in  any  form,  is  uniformly 
represented  as  whoredom  or  fornication.  Without  straining 
either  a  word  of  sacred  writ,  or  a  fact  in  history,  it  is  left  to  every 
unprejudiced  reader  to  determine  on  whose  forehead  it  is  that 
the  marks  of  apostasy  and  names  of  blasphemy  are  so  conspicu- 
ously written,  that  they  legitimately  form  a  part  of  the  testimony 
of  Jesus.     (Rev.  xvii.) 

The  ^^ forbidding  to  marry ^  and  commanding  to  abstain  from 
meats,  which  God  hath  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving 
of  them  which  believe  and  know  the  truth,"  (1  Tim.  iv.  3,)  are 


392  THE   GREAT  APOSTASY. 

mentioned  literally  as  prominent  marks  of  the  apostasy.  And 
the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  both  regular  and  secular,  and  the 
multiplicity  of  fasts,  appointed  and  observed  by  the  church  of 
Rome,  are  in  complete  and  manifest  accordance  with  the  predic- 
tion. The  former  is  expressly  contrary  to  the  sanction  and 
authority  of  Scripture,  which  saith — ^a  bishop  must  be  blame- 
less, the  husband  of  one  wife ;" — and  the  reason  assigned  for  the 
latter,  as  taught  in  the  first  Catechism  or  abridgment  of  Christian 
doctrine^^  "  that  by  fastmg  we  may  satisfy  Goa  for  our  sins,"  is 
a  monstrous  perversion  of  all  Christian  doctrine,  and  shows 
with  how  great  a  falling  away  from  the  faith  the  observance  of 
such  "commandments  of  the  church"  of  Rome  is  accompanied. 

Giving  heed  to  doctrines  of  devils — literally  of,  or  concerning, 
demons — ^a  term  often  applied  by  Greek  writers  to  those  whc 
were  canonized  or  deified  after  their  death,  or  who  were  accounted 
agents  or  mediators  between  gods  and  men.  (1  Tim.  iv.  3.)  The 
same  word  was  used  by  the  Athenians,  (Acts  xvii.  18,)  when 
they  accused  Paul  of  being  a  setter  up  of  strange  gods  or  demons 
— because  he  preached  unto  them  Jesus,  who  had  been  raised 
from  the  dead. — Bui  in  his  estate,  (or  in  the  stead  of  God,)  shall 
he  honour  the  God  (f  forces,  or,  as  rendered  in  the  margin,  Gods 
protectors,  divine  guardians,  or  tutelary  saints.  (Dan.  xi.  38.) 
The  corruption  of  the  pure  worship  of  God,  the  introduction  of 
demonolatry  into  the  Christian  Church,  and  the  trusting  to  other 
intercessors  than  the  one  only  Mediator,  seem  here  evidently 
referred  to.  It  is  not  needful  to  ask  what  church,  as  well  aS  the 
Grecian,  has  given  heed  to  doctrines  concerning  departed  mortals, 
such  as  were  believed  on  by  heathens ;  or  who  have  canonized 
dead  men,  worshipped  them  in  the  stead  of  God,  believe  on  them 
as  strong  protectors,  address  them  as  intercessors,  worship  at  their 
shrines,  regard  their  glory,  and  honour  them  with  gold,  silver,  and 
precious  stones  and  pleasant  things.    (Dan.  xi.  38.) 

Giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits,  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy,  1  Tim. 
\7.  1,2.  Whose  coming  is  after  the  power  of  Satan,  with  all  power  ^ 
and  signs,  and  lying  wonders,  and  with  all  deceivableness  of  un- 
righteousness,  2  Thess.  ii.  9,  10.  By  thy  sorceries  were  all  nations 
deceived.  Rev.  xviii.  23.  The  power  of  working  miracles  is  held 
by  the  church  of  Rome  as  a  mark  of  the  true  church ;  but  the 
assumption  of  that  power  is  truly  a  mark  of  the  great  apostasy. 
And  what  else  are  wilful  impositions,  lying  legends,  and  pre- 
tended miracles,  the  liquefying  of  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius,  for 
example,  still  practised,  thrice  every  year,  in  a  church  in  Naples, 
but  the  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness  ?    Or  what  creed  is  more 

1  Published  for  the  use  of  the  London  District,  and  printed  by  R. 
Keating,  Brown  &  Co.,  London,  Printers  to  the  R.  R.  the  Vicars 
Apostolic,  1812,  p.  33. 


THE   GREAT  APOSTASY.  393 

common  in  Rome,  to  which  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  have 
^iven  their  sanction,  than  the  working  of  miracles  by  the  images 
of  saints  1 

Speaking  of  the  selfsame  apostasy,  it  is  said  by  the  apostle 
Paul,  "  the  day  of  Christ  shall  not  come,  except  there  come  a 
falling  away  first,  and  that  man  of  sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of 
perdition ;  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped,  so  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in 
the  Temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  (2  Thess. 
ii.  3,  4.)  These  words,  descriptive  of  the  man  of  sin,  are  linked 
to  the  description  of  the  little  horn  in  Daniel,  (p.  383,)  not  only  by 
a  similarity  of  character,  but  by  an  identity  of  fate,  ^nd  he  shall 
speak  great  words  against  the  Most  High.  (Dan.  vii.  25 ;  Rev.  xiii. 
5,  6.)  It  admits  of  no  question  who  it  is  that  has  exalted  himself 
most  highly  in  the  Church,  that  has  assumed  the  claim  of  infalli- 
bility, and  of  titles  which  pertain  to  God  alone,  and  to  whom 
"  adoration"  is  paid,  when  he  is  enthroned,  in  the  most  magni- 
ficent temple  on  earth,  as  the  head  of  the  Church. 

The  more  closely  that  the  connection  is  traced  between  the 
prophecies  of  St.  Paul,  Daniel,  and  St.  John,  they  become  the 
more  copious,  discriminative,  and  defined.  The  beast  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,*  which  was  subject  to  the  authority 
of  the  great  whore,^  (or  idolatrous  church,)  is  evidently  con- 
nected, in  its  character,  duration,  and  fate,''  with  the  little  horn  of 
Daniel's  fourth  kingdom,  or  the  Roman.  The  locality  or  seat  of 
this  dominion,  diverse  from  the  former  kingdoms,  could  scarcely 
be  more  circumstantially  defined.  The  seven  heads  are  seven 
mountains  on  which  the  woman  sitteth,  (Rev.  xvii.  9.)  Rome  was 
proverbially  the  city  on  seven  hills  ,•  and  there  are  seven  kings  ,•  five 
are  fallen  and  one  is,  (v.  10.)  Five  forms  of  government  had 
before  that  time  fallen,  and  another  then  existed.  And  the  ten 
horns  which  thou  saw  est  are  ten  kings  which  have  received  no  king' 
doms  as  yet.  The  Roman  empire,  then  entire,  was,  about  the 
time  of  the  establishment  of  popery,  divided  into  ten  kingdoms, 
corresponding  with  the  ten  horns  of  the  fourth  beast,  or  the  toes 
of  the  great  image,  (pp.  382 — 384.)  The  woman  which  thou  sawest 
is  that  great  city,  which  reigneth  over  the  kings  of  the  earth.  The 
great  city  which  then  reigned  over  the  kings  of  the  earth  was 
Rome.  It  is  all  but  named.  And  under  a  symbol  the  very  name 
was  hid.  The  beast  had  a  name,  a  number,  and  a  mark,  (Rev. 
xiii.  18,  XV.  2,)  and  his  number  is  six  hundred  threescore  and  six. 
(Among  the  Hebrews  and  Greeks  all  the  letters  were  numerals, 
or  equivalent  to  figures,  which  were  not  in  use  among  them.) 
Three  diflferent  designations  being  given,  three  cprresponsive 

1  Rev.  xiii.  1 ;  xvii.  7. 

2  Rev.  xvii.  15. 

'  Dan.  vii.  20,  21,  25,  26 ;  Rev.  xiii.  5,  7,  10,  xvii.  14. 


394  THE   GREAT  APOSTASY. 

words,  instead  of  one,  as  has  been  generally  sought,  seem  to  be 
required.  The  beast  was  first  described  by  Daniel ;  and  in  He- 
brew characters,  Romiith,'  Roman,  agreeing  with  beast  or  king- 
dom, contains  the  precise  number,  or  that  of  his  name  ,•  while 
Lateinos^  the  number  of  his  name,  "  which  is  the  number  of  a 
man,^^  and  ^postates^  the  mark,  the  brand  of  the  apostasy,  both 
fatally  contain  the  same  prophetic  number. 

There  are  other  characteristics  which  need  no  comment. 
"  Come  hither;  I  will  show  unto  thee  the  judgment  of  the  great 
whore  thai  sitteth  upon  many  waters .-  with  whom  the  kings  ^  the 
earth  have  committed  fornication,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
have  been  made  drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  fornication.  The  waters 
which  thou  sawest  where  the  whore  sitteth  are  peoples,  and  multitudes, 
and  nations,  and  tongues.  Rev.  xvii.  2,  15.  They  shall  be  given 
into  his  hand,  Dan.  vii.  25.  ,^nd  power  was  given  him  over  all 
kindreds,  and  tongues,  and  nations.  And  all  that  dwell  upon  the 
earth  shall  worship  him,  whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  book  of 
life,''''  Rev.  xiii.  7,  8.  The  catholic  means  the  universal  church. 
The  same  horn  made  luar  with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  them. 
He  shall  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  Dan.  vii.  21, 25.  It 
was  given  unt^  him  to  make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to  overcome 
them.  Rev.  xiii.  7.  And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood 
of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus,  Rev. 
xvii.  6. 

She  was  arrayed  in  purple  and  scarlet  colour.  Rev.  xvii.  4,  the 
official  clothing  of  the  pope  and  of  the  cardinals,  and  decked  with 
gold  and  precious  stones,  and  pearls,  as  also  they  are,  and  where- 
with the  decking  of  their  churches,  altars,  and  images  did 
abound. 

We  ask  not  how  all  the  subtilty  of  Jesuitism,  or  all  the  de- 
ceivableness  of  unrighteousness  can  rescue  popery  from  the  grasp 
of  so  many  prophecies  encircling  it  on  every  side ;  it  is  the  pur- 

>ni2  =  200              2aZ=    30  «A^=      1 

a  a  =      1  rc  p  =    80 

t  t  =300  o  0  =    70 

e  e  =      5  s^  st  =      6 

c  t  =    10  a  a  =      1 

i;  n  =    50  T-  /  =  300 

00=    70  •7^'^      Q 

5  s  =  200  5  s  =  200 

666  666 

These  words  have  often  been  applied  as  denoting  the  name  of  the 
beast ;  and  Dr.  Clark,  in  his  commentary,  has  adduced  the  term 
'H  Aarivrj  0aai\cia — the  Latin  kingdom;  asalso  containing  the  exact 
Dumber  666. 


THE   GREAT  APOSTASY. 


395 


pose  of  these  remarks,  as  connected  with  the  evidence  of  pro- 
phecy, to  show  that  even  the  long-continued  and  wide-spread 
apostasy  from  the  Christian  faith,  which  has  often  given  a  seem- 
ing sanction  to  infidelity,  is  itself  a  proof  of  the  inspiration  of 
Scripture  ;  and  that  the  war  which  has  long  been  waged  against 
those  who  kept  the  commandments  of  God  and  had  the  testimony  of 
JesuSf  only  serves  the  more  to  confirm  the  truth  of  that  testi- 
mony. 


THE   END. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
BTEBEOTYPED  BY  L.   JOHNSON. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 


i«-r»TH-k   TOTiT  f\XKr 


14  DAY  USE 

RTTURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  U  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 
Renewals  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  date  due. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


m 


'1 


mr^ir  ''^ 


4^-*- 


AUG  2  0  2002 


LD2 1  A-lOm-8.'  73  ,  T„i™fr^'!rf'te[r„J. 

(Rl902sl0)476— A-31  Universgy^^^^^Ufonu. 


LD  21-100m-7,  aa 


/ 


.  57423 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


